


Fading into Black

by Gaeasun



Category: DCU (Comics), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crossover, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, I need two hands to count the subplots oops, Look up characters at your own risk, Soulmates, Tim Drake Needs Love, Will Write For Comments, enemies to lovers kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23120239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaeasun/pseuds/Gaeasun
Summary: In Paris, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is struggling. While trying to forget the soulmate she'll never know, Ladybug's also trying to fight off increasingly difficult akumas, and Marinette is constantly going up against Lila as more and more of her friends leave her.In Gotham, Damian Wayne is doing... ok. He's 16 now; he's come along way from being the bratty 10 year old he used to be. But he still has a long way to go, and his absolute avoidance of Paris is making his family suspicious of what secrets he's hiding.Little do they know their paths are going to cross, as an old enemy of the kwamis and all their partners returns, threatening Paris and the entire world.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 163
Kudos: 499





	1. Death in Paris

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first Soulmate fiction I have ever written. I'm really excited for this one, because I can guarantee this is going to be different from any Daminette soulfic you've read before, with new characters, unexpected twists and turns, and hopefully, a whole bunch of crying and laughter on your part. I will be adding new tags as we go along, to avoid spoilers.  
> I'd also advise that if you're not much an actual comic reader, get ready to do a little research because I'm including some people you might not have heard of before.  
> Also, even though this is called "Life and Death," that has more to do with the themes. I promise I won't be permanently killing characters left and right. So don't worry... too much. :)  
> With that, please enjoy!

Booster Gold didn’t realize quite how drunk he was. But at that particular moment, he really didn't care either.

“I’m tellin’’ yah, Te-- Blue, I can do it! Just some purple idiot dressing up as in, anin, inse-- butterfly.” He laughed, apparently finding something about a villain who dressed as a color-themed insect hilarious. 

His best friend rolled his eyes, still slowly nursing a single shot. Maybe agreeing to come here to help Booster Gold to work through his latest disastrous defeat wasn’t the best plan. But other than Skeets, who was hovering nearby, Booster didn’t really have other good friends to turn him away from his worse ideas. “I’m not sure about that’s the best idea. Remember how Wonder Woman warned the league against that? She said ‘we are in no way to interfere with the situation in Paris unless the heroes there ask for help or the world is about to end.’” 

“Oh, come on, it’s just a, just a clown in a purple suit.”

Blue Beetle sighed and called to settle up the tab. He was just as rich as Booster Gold, but his friend was clearly not in his best mind, and he decided they needed to leave. Preferably now. “Clowns in purple suits can be dangerous. Didn’t you tell me Joker beat you nearly to death that time you tried to save Oracle?”

Booster Gold shuddered so hard, his glass fell out of his hand and clattered on the bar counter. “Yeah, that was majorly bad. But this isn’t! Skeets, gimme some info.”

Skeets buzzed quietly, then shook his mechanical head. “Most of the data of Paris from this time period is strangely patchy, like pieces of data were erased. Let me see if I can find anything from later.” 

Skeets displayed a holograph image of a headline reading Hawkmoth: Living in the Aftermath 10 Years Later. Blue Beetle noticed that the date was from more than ten years in the future.

“See? He gets defeated eventually, I just speed up the timetable a couple of years, and BAM!” He slammed down a gloved fist on the table, causing a few people to glance over at them. At least, a few more people than those who were already staring at the two heroes. “I’ll be recognized once more as a blo, bell, beloved hero! Paris is gonna love me! I love Paris!”

The golden hero suddenly stood up and stumbled towards the door. “To Paris! But first, to bed!”

He passed out.

The next morning Booster Gold woke up and immediately groaned. Everything hurt. The sun hurt. The sound hurt.

“Good morning sir,” Skeets chirped, unpleasant to his ears. 

Booster Gold put his pillow over his ears. “Go away Skeets. Sleep. Also reminder next time I want to do that: don’t.”

A couple hours later he woke up again, in less pain, especially as the sun had set and was no longer blinding him with its glaring rays. 

"Man Skeets. What a night. What even happened? I dont remember it all." He sat up straight, trying to think.

"Let's see, that beating from Black Beetle, then me and Blue hit the drinks, then, I remember something about Paris. What was I thinking about Paris." He snapped his fingers.

"Right, my brilliant plan to punch Purple-Face in his purple face. Well, better get going. Paris is kinda far. I want to get there by morning."

Skeets whirred. "Sir, are you sure this is the best idea? Perhaps staying to train more would be efficient, as you could 'punch the Black Beetle in his beetle face.'"

Booster Gold shook his head, too tired and focused to agree. "Nope. I got this. From what I've heard he's been only fighting kids, right? Then I think it's time for him to fight a real man. "

He flexed, wincing as he remembered his strained bicep.

Skeets wanted to do a few things. It wanted to role its eyes, even though it wanted to love Booster Gold. But what it wanted most to do was tell Booster Gold what a bad idea this really was. But it couldn't. There was only so much the both of them could do to alter the time stream. 

Skeets wanted to feel hurt. It knew what was ahead. 

A critical event in their timeline was coming, and neither of them could stop what was too come.

Between the 7 hours of flying, and the time zone change, Booster didn't get to Paris till around noon. He set down on the outskirts, and quickly changed into civilian clothing. No need to alert the villain, he might run away if he heard Booster Gold was here to fight him.

He also needed to figure out who was dealing with. As fun as Purple Face sounded, Booster figured he should at least learn the villains name. And maybe his powers. And where he tended to hang out. 

Booster Gold, or "Michael", as he was going by right now, strolled through the center of Paris, Skeets hiding in a purchased backpack. 

“Alright, lets see,” Michael hummed as he scrolled through his B.G.I.™ Super-Smart Phone (he wondered if he should think of a better name), trying to find more info. Finally, one of his programs flagged a website for him, something called the “Ladyblog.”

Even with a cursory glance, the hero was troubled by what he saw. There were all kinds of different monsters, villains, and witches, that wreaked destruction all across Paris. So many videos showed the Eiffel tower falling over, or crumbling to dust that he actually looked up to reassure himself it was still there.

“Skeets,” Michael muttered. “Run a video diagnostic on these. Tell me how much they’ve been doctored.” 

The backpack buzzed slightly as Skeets crunched numbers.

“No doctoring detected,” was the verdict. 

“No doctoring?” Michael mused. That seemed strange. 

“Skeets, scan for chronal energy.” That was probably it. If there was one thing he was an expert in, it was time travel. 

“Traces of chronal energy detected.”

There it was. “Skeets, transmit the data to my tablet, and overlay it on a map of the city.”

But when Michael examined the data, the numbers troubled him. While there were various areas with concentrations of chronal energy, he would expect much bigger numbers to erase the damage from every single one of those videos. 

And then there was the videos themselves. For them to be intact through time travel, the person taking the videos would have to be the one time traveling. However, the home of the author of the videos was in an area with no measurable chronal energy. So she couldn’t be time travelling.

Michael groaned. “Skeets, this is a lot more complicated then I thought. Maybe I should call Ted for help,” he muttered. Then he remembered why he was there in the first place. To punch purple face and show everyone what an incredible hero he was. 

“Come on, Booster, you got this you got this you got this-”

BOOM!

Michael was thrown back by an explosion right in front of him. He crashed into a building before metal, glass, and plaster partially buried him. 

“Where did that come from!” he coughed, his lungs spasming with all the dirt and smoke in the air. 

“Skeets?” Michael reached backwards, gritting his teeth as small bits of shrapnel dug into his shoulder shifted as he twisted his arm back. 

However, he couldn’t find the backpack. 

“Skeets?” Michael dragged himself out of debris and frantically began looking around. 

Plastic, rubble, metal, a shoe, more rubble, glass shards-

Wait. the shoe had a foot attached. And the leg the foot was attached to was buried under part of the building.

“Uh, hold on person!” Muscles straining, wincing, Michael began to frantically tear off the plaster, rocks, and metal from the mound. 

“I got you! I got you! I-” He removed the last piece of rubble over where the person’s face would be. 

Glassy eyes looked up at him.

“NO!” Michael dragged the person, a woman, out of the pile, throwing proper emergency procedures to the wind. He desperately began to perform CPR. 

“Staying alive, staying alive, come-on, come-on, come-on, COME ON!” 

That song was the only way Michael could remember the right speed to do heart compressions, but the words of it were haunting him. He tried to breathe life into the lifeless lungs, but the woman stayed completely unresponsive. 

After ten minutes Michael was forced to admit defeat. This innocent woman was dead, dead because of that deranged terrorist. And looking around, Booster realized there were more bodies.  
More people he was unable to save.

“Skeets, I-” 

Then he remembered what he was looking for in the first place. Looking around, Michael saw the torn arm strap of the backpack peeking out from more debris.

“Skeets!” 

Michael tore through the lighter debris on top of the backpack, then strained to lift a heavy plumbing pipe that had fallen directly on the backpack. Once done, he picked up the backpack and sobbed into the torn fabric. 

Inside was nothing but sparking and smashed parts.

“Skeets, come on. I can’t lose you, you’re the best little robot a guy could have as a friend.” He hugged the backpack tightly, ignoring the pain from the jolts of electricity his former friend was giving off. 

He stayed like that for what felt like hours as he mourned. 

Then, a miracle.

Michael fell over in surprise as a wave of red overtook his vision. But it wasn’t anger. Instead it was peace, it was healing, it was comfort. He felt a strange sensation on his skin, like the tiny feet of insects, but in an impossibly kind way, like a thousand tiny caresses, easing his worry and sadness and pain.

When the red faded, Michael saw something he could only describe as miraculous. The building that was formerly crumbling, in pieces, was now whole like nothing had happened in the first place. The people who he had just seen dead on the ground, the woman included, got up and ran to comfort the friends and family that stood nearby, gentle and relieved smiles on their faces. And Skeets…

The little golden robot was now hovering nearby, emitting a blank whir. “Sir, what happened?” My memory records an explosion, but has a gap after that. What-”

Skeets stopped as Michael plucked him out of the air like a hail mary pass. 

“Sir, you are holding me a little too tightly, sir-!”

“Skeets, man, I’m just so glad you’re alive!”

“I have no memory of being ‘dead.’”

Michael laughed and laughed until he started to hyperventilate instead. “Ok, what the heck just happened? You were dead, and she was dead, and he was- oh, wait, no that guy was alive. Think he had some nasty burns though.” 

Wasn’t he injured too? Michael reached up to feel his shoulder, but all the shrapnel was gone. He was completely fine, without even a strained muscle. 

“Ok, now’s the time, scan for chronal energy.”

“No new chronal energy detected, sir.”

Groaning inwardly, Michael tried to think up his next plan. So chronal energy wasn’t behind this, then what was?

A little girl came up to him, and began to tug on his shirt. 

“Your robot friend is so cute! Where did you get it? I want one! Please? Pleeease? Pleeeeeee-”

MIchael jumped backwards, away from the girl. “Uh…. well, this is the prototype for the amazing Skeets-bot, trademark Booster Gold International, which will be ready, uh, somewhere in the next five years.”

“What’s a boostergold? Is it like a marigold? Do you like flowers?” she asked the golden robot. Michael shook his head at Skeets.

“Um, oh no, I am malfunctioning. I am going to leave now,” Skeets announced, then abruptly turned around and flew slowly away. 

The girl looked after the robot, on the verge of tears. “Oh no flower-bot,” she whimpered. “Get better soon.”

Michael didn’t really know what to say to that. So he left. Awkwardly.

“You know you could have done better than that,” he griped. 

“Yes sir.”

“Don’t sass me.”

“No sir.”

Michael decided that after flying for hours, nearly being killed, and seeing his best robot pal be smashed to smithereens, what he really needed now was a nap. So he headed to a hotel, a fancy-shmancy one by the looks of it. It was owned by the mayor of Paris, apparently.

When he tried to reserve a suite though, he ran into a little trouble.

“I’m sorry sir, you said you were the head of, what exactly? Better Mold Incorporated?” The mayor was looking at him with utter confusion on his face.

“Booster. Gold. Incorporated.” Speaking was a little difficult through the gritted teeth of his smile. 

“I-I-I’m sorry sir, but I have simply never heard of that. Perhaps you enjoy a lesser room? I tend to reserve those for, well, ah, those of better reputation, if you can understand.” 

“Oh, I understand. Being a superhero really does nothing for you, does it? I’ll just be leaving then. I’m sure some other hotel would just love to have me?”

The man (who Michael kinda wondered if he had been bullied as a kid. His face just kinda looked, punchable, and his nervous demeanor didn’t help much) looked up sharply from his cell phone, having apparently googled him. “Oh my, sir, I am so, so very sorry. I had simply not heard of you before, and we have not had any heroic visitors to Paris for quite some time. But um, is there any way you can prove you are, Boosted Gold?”

“Booster. And really? Does the flying robot not give it away?” He jabbed a thumb towards Skeets, who had been quietly hovering next to him. “So, can I get a room? I’m just flew in all the way from Arizona, and my flight ring sure is tired!” 

He chuckled. Some jokes were just timeless.

The mayor gave what sounded like a very forced laugh, and then sent someone to show him the way to his room. 

On the way up, he accidentally bumped into a blonde teenager who was rounding the same corridor as him. 

She scowled at him. “Watch where you’re going.” Then she was gone. 

Michael shivered. That girl had a death glare he thought would even unnerve Blue.

The blonde with the death-stare continued til she was downstairs. “Chloe, isn’t this fantastic? After all this time, a hero has finally come to Paris! And he is paying quite handsomely for a suite.”

Chloe’s glare shifted to a look of mild irritation. After a minute she asked if there had been an akuma attack yet that day. Upon receiving the answer, she shrugged and continued on her way. 

Nothing she could do today. Maybe tomorrow. 

Up in the suite, Michael was reveling in luxury. 

“Ah Parisian suite. This is the life Skeets. Being a millionaire is nice.” He let himself collapse onto the bed. 

“Alright Skeets, I’m going to sleep, don’t wake me up. And in the meantime, sort through all the data there is on the villain here. Tomorrow, he’s going to get what’s coming to him.”

“Very well sir. Sweet dreams.”

He was out in seconds. 

The next morning, in the top floor of a bakery, the heroine of Paris slept, sweetly oblivious to the world.

She was also oblivious to the figure standing next to her.

The person stood silently, making no move against the girl. Finally, they went to the desk, neatly organized into sewing materials, art supplies, and various other items she used for school. A single pencil was borrowed, one pink post-it note used. A few words were written.

Once the deed was done, the note was gently placed on the forehead of the raven-haired girl, who stirred slightly but did not wake. 

The figure smiled in the darkness.

“Happy Birthday Marinette.”

Then the room had two occupants once more.

Meanwhile, across the city, Booster Gold woke up and began to put on his suit. 

“Alright Skeets, let’s do this. Show me the data so I can give this Hawkmoth a little gift.” He stretched and cracked his knuckles. “25 to life.”

“Unfortunately, sir, that might be a problem. Hawkmoth himself, along with his partner Mayura, have been spotted in public only four times since his first ‘appearance.’”

“What?” Booster Gold took out his phone and began scrolling through the data Skeets had sorted.

According to video footage of the attacks and interviews from citizens and the local heroes, Hawkmoth sent out evil… butterflies? Wow. That was sticking to the theme schtick a little too much. Even Blue didn’t make everything he had beetle themed. And he didn’t use actual beetles, those were gross anyways.

So, these ‘evil butterflies’ went around and…

He moved up his mask to make sure he was reading the info right. They possessed people? While giving them superpowers? 

The hero scowled. This was worse than he thought. Mind control was bad stuff. That had happened to him once, and it was nasty business. 

What was worse, Hawkmoth seemed to have no boundaries. He had possessed everyone from babies to the elderly, and everyone in between. Just, taking advantage of people like that. 

Booster began quickly scrolling through the videos. Some were silly and desperate, like controlling pidgeons? Normally he would have laughed at that. But he felt like doing anything but laughing right now.

Because of the videos where entire buildings collapsed, where people looked into the eyes of their loved ones before being turned to mindless drones, because of the videos where bodies were strewn about on the streets like garbage. 

He even saw the video of himself, desperately trying to revive the dead woman. Sobbing in anguish as he held the shattered parts of one of his best friends. 

“Skeets,” he growled. “Find this son of a-”

But it was too late. He had been found first. 

“You,” Booster Gold practically spat on the ground, as purple and red threatened to completely blind him. 

“Yes. Me,” the voice that spoke inside his head agreed.

“Give me one good reason I, I should listen to you.” He was having trouble speaking, as his throat nearly closed in response to the high level emotions running through his body.

“Because, hero, you can end it all. I can give you the power to make sure I never hurt another person. I need something simple. The miraculous’ of Ladybug and Chat Noir. That’s it. Thats all I need.”

Booster laughed, a sound that rivaled the Joker’s amusement. “All of this. The death, the pain. This. Was about. JEWELRY!”

“I’m afraid you could refine the matter down to that. See, I need them, for something important. I need to help someone. The violence is… regrettable. But surely you must understand, as a hero. You help people. Help me, and you help others. You, Booster Gold, will be a hero to everyone. The person who finally brought an end to my ‘reign.’ The savior of Paris. And the one I need to save, you will be helping them too.”

Booster Gold struggled to think past the anger in his mind, as well as the influence he could feel creeping in. His thoughts were starting to feel less like his. 

“How, how do I know. That you’re telling the- the truth.”

“Feel it through our bond. I cannot lie to you. You feel as I do. Can you not feel my deep desire? Let that be your assurance”

He was right, Hawkmoth was telling the truth.

And, the more he thought about it, he wondered… he wondered if he was right. If, all he had to do was get some magic jewelry, and this would be all over. People could stop living in fear. They could be free.

And kids wouldn’t have to grow up knowing what death felt like. 

“Alright.” He let his head drop. “I’ll help you. So this will all be over for these people.”

“Thank you, Eclipse.”


	2. Six Hours, Fifty-Two Minutes and Thirty Seconds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug gets her team ready for a long day of fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't like the usual terms for the villain, because they're also victims, and I don't think they're technically the Akuma itself, so I'm calling them Marks instead, as in a target or stain. I also had to split this in two because this chapter was getting really long, so the next chapter will have Eclipse doing stuff. But that's already at least half done, so it will probably be posted later this week. Enjoy!

Marinette woke to gentle nudge.

“Come on Marinette, your third and last alarm already went off! You don’t want to be late for school today!” her best friend squeaked.

“Why not? I want to sleep.” Marinette pulled her covers over her head.  
  


“But Marinette, today’s your birthday!”

Marinette shot straight up. 

Tikki was right! Today was the day she turned 16! The day when she would finally find out if Adrien was her soulmate.

When a person turned 16, the night they went to sleep they could have their first soulmate dream. If that person had a soulmate, then they would dream of an important event from their soulmate’s life. However, because of the special soulmate magic, it was impossible to see or hear their soulmate clearly. 

It took some people years to find enough clues from subsequent dreams to find their soulmate. Some people put clues around their room in the hopes that their soulmate would see it, others used websites, and others just waited and hoped their soulmate came to them. 

Not everyone had a given soulmate, like Marinette’s parents. They told her over and over that she didn’t need a soulmate to find love, and if she did have a soulmate both her papa and mama promised to not break any bones when they first met him. Neither promised anything for the second time (and Marinette wasn’t sure who could be scarier, her mama or her papa). 

All the same, Marinette hoped she had a soulmate. And she hoped he was Adrien. 

A small voice asked what she would do if Adrien had a different soulmate than her. Or if one had a soulmate but the other didn’t. What would happen to her crush then?

But she couldn’t listen to that voice. As Ladybug, it was her job to focus on the present, and whatever it demanded from her. It was the only way she could stay ahead of Hawkmoth, and his increasingly difficult akumas.

Marinette shook her head. What was that she said about staying in the present? she reminded herself. Just get ready for school in the here and now.

Yet part of her was looking forward to sweet dreams tonight.

Marinette hummed and giggled as she played with Tikki while gathering the things she needed for school.

When she reached her desk she paused. 

“Tikki?” Her eyes didn’t look up from the note. “Is- is this real?”

Tikki came over to peer at the note. It read:

_Hi there Mini-bug! Sorry to spoil your big day, but today’s full of trouble. I can’t tell you exactly what’s up ahead, but I will tell you this will be your hardest foe yet. You need to find everyone who’s used a Miraculous and fight with them. You’ll also need to give Mini-me my miraculous too. But this is really important; no matter what you can’t let Mini-me fight with you. If something happens to us we all could really lose this time._

_Happy Birthday Minibug, Bunnyx_

_PS Use your Lucky Charm as soon as you can._

Tikki perched on Marinette’s shoulder. “Marinette, I think this is real. Oh, I’m sorry that your special day is going to be spent fighting Hawkmoth.”

Marinette forced a smile, her pulse quickening. “That’s ok Tikki. Hawkmoth doesn’t rest, so neither will we. Spots on!”

As soon as she had transformed, she cast her lucky charm. To her surprise, all that came down was her regular yoyo. When she turned it on, a countdown appeared, ticking downwards. It currently read six hours, fifty-two minutes and thirty seconds.

“What do you think it means, Tikki?” Marinette asked as she collected Miraculous from the box.

“I’m not sure Marinette. But knowing the magic of the Lucky Charm, it likely means something is going to happen in about seven hours that will help you defeat this new Mark.”

“Seven hours,” Marinette murmured. She took a deep breath.

She was Ladybug. She could do this.

But first, she had a couple of stops to make.

  
  


Before Ladybug even made it to her first destination, the akuma alarms began to sound all over Paris. Without breaking stride, she opened the Miraculous App to find out where the Mark was located.

Strange, though, despite the alarms going off there were no videos or message sightings at all. Checking the time and location data, she noticed that although alarms were now ringing throughout the entire city, there were five locations where the alarms had been triggered simultaneously, but before the rest. 

Although Max and Markov had done most of the programming for the app, certain safeguards should have prevented the odd timing these alarms showed. The alerts were location based, and activated only the areas closest to the akuma sightings, to prevent daily shutdowns of Paris. 

Had the Mark done this? Ladybug mused. Maybe Max or Markov had been akumatized again. Bunnyx had told her this battle would be tough, and fighting either a miraculous wielder or another army of appliances would be difficult. But why would this time be any different? 

Ladybug instincts told her this was someone new, dangerous, and smart enough to send her a message. 

So this was a challenge, and she intended to win. 

Finally, Ladybug found two of the people she was searching for. Moving swiftly, she pulled them into an alley before the evacuating crowds noticed her.

“Dude?”

Alya immediately whipped out her phone and began filming. “Ladybug, any word on this latest Mark from Hawkmoth? There have been no sightings yet, is this an invisible Mark? Or-”

Ladybug gently lowered Alya’s phone. “I’m sorry Alya, but there’s no time for an interview. Today is going to be a long day.” 

She checked the timer. Six hours, thirty-six minutes and sixteen seconds. 

She handed each of them a miraculous. “ Listen, I know I’ve had to be careful ever since Hawkmoth discovered your identities, but this is an emergency and I’m going to need as many friends as possible helping out. Can I rely on both of you?”

Alya and Nino both nodded, for once too excited to speak, except to utter the transformation words. 

“Ok, I need you to go to the [ Trocadéro ](https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Trocad%C3%A9ro) and report back to me. I think something is or will happen there. Call me if you find anything. If not, use the tracker and rendevouz with me. Also, don’t use your powers unless it's an emergency; I think this is going to take a while.”

“You got it dude!”  
  


“Oh, _yes!_ You can count on us Ladybug.”

Ladybug smiled. Two down, seven more to go.

It took her a while to get to the Seine, but she was relieved to see the boat she was looking for docked in its usual spot. No one was on the upper deck.

Anchoring off of the mast, Ladybug eased herself down til she was right above the porthole of Luka’s room. She smiled as she heard the familiar sound of guitar music, coincidentally the song that Luka said was hers.

Despite Luka “breaking up with her,” they were still great friends. She wasn’t even sure she could call it a breakup, because Luka made it very clear when they began spending much more time with each other that he didn’t have any romantical intentions toward her, that he actually had a soulmate. But he told her that he knew she was a very good and special person, and was devastated when her song started playing darker tones. So he took it upon herself to cheer her up, to be her shoulder to cry on (which she had done on many occasions, while he kept lookout for akumas), and to remind her that she wasn’t alone.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that Luka had told her that she seemed cheered up, and he wanted to go talk to his own soulmate (who turned out to be Kagami), but he promised to always be a friend she could talk to, or sometimes not talk, but simply relax as he played guitar.

Ladybug was so caught up in fond memories that she started as the porthole opened seemingly of its own accord. Cerulean eyes looked at her.

“Ladybug? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine Luka. But I need your help, and Juleka’s. Can I come in?”

Luka stepped back so she could slide in the porthole. Once inside, he quickly stepped out to grab his sister. As soon as she entered her eyes brightened.

“Hey Ladybug,” she murmured.

Ladybug quickly gave them their miraculous. After emerging from his miraculous, Roarr immediately gave a loud purr and snuggled up against where Juleka’s shoulder and neck met. Juleka smiled and lightly stroked the top of the kwami’s head. Luka also smiled as he scratched the scaly fold around around Sass’ head.

“Here’s the plan,” Ladybug talked as they transformed into Viperion and Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily fiddled with her long, whip-like tail as Ladybug spoke. 

“I need you two to go to the Louvre, I think somethings going to happen there. If you find anything contact me. Tiger Lily, do not use your powers unless it's an emergency. Viperion, because you just became an adult, right? That means you can use Second Chance as much as you need to, without having to transform.” Viperion nodded, a determined look in his eyes.

“Keep each other safe. I might need you later when fighting the Mark.” She checked her yoyo.

Six hours, thirteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds. 

She synced her yoyo to Viperion’s harp. “As soon as there are five minutes left, I need you to start your second chance and find me immediately.”

Viperion nodded. He wouldn’t fail Ladybug.

“Cool,” Tiger Lily agreed.

They left through the porthole, Viperion with a little difficulty because of his shoulders. As soon as they were out, they sped for the Louvre as fast as they can.

As soon as Ladybug stepped foot to follow them, her yoyo chimed. Rena Rouge, her hair looking disheveled, immediately began to talk.

“Ladybug! I think we found what you warned about! There are-” Her voice stopped as the video whirled in a circle.

“There are a bunch of robots here! And get this, they have the same powers as the Justice League! But I-”

“Look out!” Ladybug faintly heard Carapace shout in the background, and saw a flash of green behind the fox-themed superhero. The video shook.

“Anyways, I don’t think they’re trying to hurt us that badly, which seems strange. But they’re trying hard to incapacitate us, I think. But I haven’t seen the Mark anywhere! Ladybug, what’s going on?”

Ladybug didn’t speak for a moment, trying to process. “Thanks Rena. Keep fighting, maybe the robots will run out. Until then, watch your backs.” Rena Rouge nodded, and the screen turned black.

Ok. So super-powered robots. Hard, but not impossible. What Ladybug worried about, though, was the fact that the Mark had yet to make an appearance. What was the strategy, wearing them down? Ladybug clung to the hope Bunnyx gave her, that there was a way to win. She didn’t see it yet, but knew it had to be there.

Focus Ladybug. There are more people to find.

Luckily, thanks to memorizing a certain person’s schedule, she knew exactly where to find the next wielder. 

Ladybug alighted on the roof of the fencing dojo, and entered through an unlocked window. She dashed quickly through the building, not wanting to alert anyone other than who she was looking for to her presence. Finally, she heard a quiet and familiar voice, rounded the corner, and caught the eyes of-

“Ladybug-sama!” Kagami hung up her phone, presumably on her mother.

Ladybug smiled. “Hope your mother doesn’t get too upset with you,” she teased.

Kagami shrugged. “I will tell her later the tower was destroyed. I presume you have come to give me the dragon miraculous, despite Hawkmoth knowing my true identity?”

Well, Kagami sure liked to get to the “point” (ouch, Chat Noir’s puns were starting to rub off on her).

“Yes, Kagami. Today we are fighting a dangerous enemy, along with the robots in the city. I’m going to need your help. “

After a brief greeting to Longg, Kagami transformed. 

“Ryukko, I need you to hold out at the Eiffel tower. You’ll be alone for now, but I trust your skills and will send you backup as soon as possible. Destroy as many robots as you can, but don’t use all three of your elements because we have a long day ahead of us.” 

Kagami nodded, and immediately headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. Straight through a closed window immediately. 

Her yoyo rang and the exact voice she was hoping to hear rang out, filling her with more hope and optimism.

“M’lady, are you alright? Have you found the Mark yet? All I’ve seen are robots around Paris.”

“Yes, Chat, I’m fine. I need you to come find me right away so I can tell you what I know.”

“No problem Bugaboo, be right there.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes as she fished the dog miraculous out of her pocket. She listened curiously, hoping to hear the sweet sound of Adrien’s voice. He might be a perfect match to the dog, with his kindness, and loyalty to friends, and his dreamy green eyes…

Truth is, she’d wanted to give Adrien the dog miraculous the first time she brought it out. But instead of giving it to Adrien, she had accidentally given it to a friend of his, Wayhem. But after she saw how well Wayhem had done with the miraculous, his natural instincts of loyalty and protection shining, she had decided to let him use it a second time recently.

One of these days, she promised herself, she would find the right miraculous for Adrien. 

A light tap on her shoulder sent her flying as her legs jumped at the surprise. 

At least she still had the dignity to land on her feet. Darn sneaky Chat.

Chat grinned as she scowled at him. “What,” he teased. “Chat got your tongue?”

Ladybug sighed. “Chat, here.” She handed him the dog miraculous. “I need you to go find Max, and you remember Wayhem, Wagz, right?” He nodded, still smiling cheekily at her fright.

“Good. I need you to go find him. I’m not sure where… although Adrien Agreste might, he should be here somewhere. I mean, I think.I mean, I totally didn’t memorize his entire schedule just to know where he was every minute of the day. Just a guess.” She pinched herself to stop her rambling.

Chat tilted his head. “Uh, sure M’lady. But can you tell me what’s going on? My fine feline instincts are telling me this is going to be a bad one.”

Ladybug relayed what she knew to him, including the note she had received from Bunnyx. 

Chat Noir’s eyes slitted in anticipation. “This does sound like a tough one,” he admitted. 

Then he gently grabbed Ladybug’s hand and lifted it to eye level. 

“But we got this M’Lady. We’ll beat Hawkmoth today, tomorrow, and every day after that until we beat him for good! You, and me, and all our friends and allies. We’re in this together, with you till the end!”

Looking at Chat Noir’s hopeful face, Ladybug felt hope, optimism, and gratitude rush through her. 

Ladybug tightened her grip on Chat Noir’s hand. “Thanks Chaton. I needed that. Now let’s do this. ”

She showed him the timer, which now read five hours, fifty-six minutes and twenty-nine seconds. “We have to hold out with all the attacks till this counts down. I’m not sure what will happen, but I’m hoping it's the key to defeat this Mark.”

Chat nodded, his emerald eyes growing a little more serious. “I’ll go find Max and Wayhem,” he promised.

Ladybug gave him more instructions on where she wanted everyone to go, then they split up. 

  
  


She had two more to find.

First Kim, since he was almost always at the pool. She got there quickly, and soon spotted him goofing off with Ondine near the edge of the water. Positioning herself behind Ondine but still in Kim’s sightline, she tried to get his attention. 

Kim’s eyes went wide when he saw her, falling backwards into the pool in surprise. He soon got out though, and said something to Ondine before shaking himself like a dog and walked over to where Ladybug was hiding. 

“Hey Ladybug, what are you doing here?” He gasped. “Aw cool! Do you need help? Do I get to be King Monkey again? 

Nodding, Ladybug gave him the circlet. He put it on and gave his silly greetings to Xuppu before transforming. 

“I need you to go to your school and fight off robots. I think that’s right up your alley! Pegasus will meet you there.”

King Monkey’s eyes were glittering in expectation. “I get to fight off robots? With Pegasus? That’s a cool guy! This might be the best day of my life!” e he left, still talking, although to who Ladybug wasn’t quite sure of.

Unfortunately, she had no idea where to find the last person, Alix, as she had a lot of favorite places. But since future-Bunnyx said they would need her, Ladybug had to find her. 

First she tried to the school, aiding King Monkey and Pegasus as they defended against the powered-up robots. She suspected they were much weaker than the real thing, limited by their programming and robot parts. Like how the Superman and Flash robots could only go as fast as their mechanical gears allowed them, with their own magically enhanced reflexes able to keep them mostly out of imminent danger. 

Also the Batman robots were all acting strange, just hiding in the darkest nearby corners, and punching anyone who got too close, shouting “I’m Batman.”

Unfortunately, there was no Alix at the school. 

Next she tried Alix’s house and the closest shelter, but she was still nowhere to be seen. 

Finally, Ladybug checked out the Louvre, where Viperion and Tiger Lily were fighting a pair of winged Hawkwoman droids. Vaulting off the pyramid, Ladybug tangled the wings of one in wire, and slammed it to the ground. Tiger Lily pounced on the other one and disassembled it with her curved knife. 

“Thanks Ladybug,” Viperion panted. “But some of the Batman robots trapped a group of civilians in the Louvre, and turned off all the lights. I can’t sense their heat signatures as well because they’re not human, but Tiger Lily can see much better than us in the dark. We need someone out here so we don’t get ambushed. Can you defend the entry?”

Ladybug nodded, and began building up momentum with her yoyo. Viperion activated his Second Chance, and brother and sister ran into the Louvre together. 

Ladybug decided to get a better view, and perched on the capstone (capmetal? capglass).

She heard cries of “I’m Batman!” from within, and more crashing noises.

She had barely been there for a minute when she heard a sound, and instinctively leapt out of the way before a blast of heat cased the top of the Louvre pyramid to explode in molten globs of metal and glass. 

Landing gracefully, Ladybug turned and saw a Superman robot above her. It dived at her, arms outstretched. Thinking quickly, she leapt above it while spooling out wire in its path. The robot tangled itself in the wire. 

Ladybug yanked on the wire with all her strength, anchoring herself against the robot while keeping out of it’s fiery gaze. The magical wire cut deeper and deeper, until it cut all the way through and the light in its eyes died out. 

“Ladybug!”

She turned at Viperion’s shout and saw him and Tiger Lily leading out a small group of people, including Alix Kubdel much to her relief. 

“I’ll escort them to the nearest shelter. You stay and fight off any more robots. We have, five hours, nine minutes and twenty-three seconds left.” 

Viperion opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. His eyes widened. 

Enclosed in each fists was a quivering green arrow, which he had barely managed to catch.

“Awesome,” Tiger Lily muttered.

Then the arrowheads began to beep.

Several things happened at once. Viperion hurled the arrows away from him and the people, Tiger Lily tackled him towards Ladybug, Ladybug spun a shield. 

When the smoke cleared, Ladybug saw both of the other heroes grip their weapons tightly.

“We’ll handle this, Ladybug.” Viperion said. Tiger Lily was already dashing towards the direction the arrows came from. 

“Thank you, Viperion. I’ll get these people to safety.”

Once at the nearest shelter, Ladybug pulled Alix aside.

“It’s time,” she said, handing her the clock. Alix’s eyes glowed.

“So I finally get to become Bunnyx? Yes!” Alix punched the air in excitement.

“Alix Kubdel, this is the Miraculous of the Rabbit, which grants the power of time travel. You'll use it for the greater good. Once the mission is over, you'll return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?”

“For sure Ladybug!” Alix reached out for the clock.

Ladybug hesitated. “Alix, I need you to understand. This isn’t like the other miraculous, not even the snake. With this you will be able to travel to time, and that’s dangerous to yourself and others. Also, with you reversing some timelines, this means you will one day know all of our secret identities, including mine and Chat Noir’s. “

Alix froze. Her eyes grew thoughtful, as if contemplating this great responsibility being thrust upon her. Finally she slowly took the clock from Ladybug.

“Thank you Ladybug. I’ll show you you can trust me.”

With that Alix transformed into the Bunnyx costume Ladybug knew well. Although she noticed that there were slight differences, such as shorter ears and no cotton ball at her neck. 

“Bunnyx, you from the future told me that you can’t risk yourself by fighting. If all else fails, we will need you to fix it.”

Alix looked somewhat disappointed, but she nodded all the same. “I’ll be monitoring the situation, and jump in if things go really wrong,” she promised.

Ladybug felt some weight off her shoulders, with a net to catch her if the day went wrong. Unfortunately, there was still about five hours of fighting robots left, and the Mark still hadn’t made an appearance. That worried her more than anything else; she couldn’t fight someone she couldn’t see. But there was nothing she could do about it, so she left to go fight with her partner, and trusted the rest of her teammates to be ok.

Unfortunately, sometimes trust wasn’t enough, because at that moment Eclipse had finally set his plan into motion. He had all the pieces on the board.

Now he just had to go play them.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter! Kudos and comments greatly appreciated! If you need any clarifications on the soulmate part just ask.


	3. Eclipse Over Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse executes his plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for physical and emotional pain

Eclipse’s first priority was the teleporter, with his best weapon anonymity. No one could prepare for him if they didn’t see him coming. And the Justice League storage of Amazo robots that were currently being stored in Europe were easy enough to call to his command. Those robots were built to mimic members of the Justice League, and would serve him well as an army of sorts.

The purple and blue clad Mark didn’t head for the any of the locations he had sent the robots to. No: his plan, already beginning, started in a house in the city that was “conveniently” far enough from the five points of action that any reasonable resident wouldn’t need to be in a shelter right now. The woman would be sheltering in her own house.

Eclipse first headed for the house of  Claudie Kanté.

When he entered the house, the woman was in the kitchen, stress baking. Likely because she thought her son was caught in a shelter in the city.

Eclipse had no idea whether or not she knew her son was one of the heroes of Paris. He doubted it. 

The identities of the heroes were a very useful piece of information that Hawkmoth had given him. 

When the mother saw him enter, she dropped the mixing bowl she was carrying. 

  
“You’re- you’re the Mark that the alarms are going off for. What do you want with me?”

Eclipse allowed a small smile. “I’m afraid I don’t need you at all Mrs. Kante. And I think I have enough audio collected now, so thank you.”

He froze her in time with the weapon Hawkmoth had been kind enough to provide. Claudie’s phone was lying on the table. Quickly accessing it, Eclipse dialed Max’s number, while activating his voice adapter that would make his words sound like those of the boy’s mother.

Pegasus picked up quickly. “Mom? Are you ok? I am somewhat busy at the moment.”

“Max! Max, I think I saw the Mark outside, or maybe just a robot but, he’s trying to get in the house! Please, send a hero here quickly before he breaks in the door!” Eclipse cut off the call before the boy could ask anything.

Pegasus calculated quickly. Being in a non-targeted area, the chances of a robot being near her house was less than 12.625%. The presence of the Mark was even less likely, at 1.03%. 

Still, if his mother was truly in danger, he needed to go. And out of anyone, he could travel the quickest. If it was nothing, he could recharge quickly and return. If there was truly something or someone there, he would call in backup. 

“King Monkey!” he called. “Something has taken my attention. If I am not back in precisely five minutes from now, call Ladybug.”

With that Pegasus left for his mother.

He came into his house in his bedroom, a place he knew the coordinates of consummately. However, the lack of sound made him wary.

Pegasus entered the kitchen area cautiously, then forgot about caution altogether and rushed over to the frozen figure of his mom.

“Mom? Mom can you hear me? Please give me a response!” 

There was something else though, a small detail that bothered him. The phone, where was her phone? She had just called him, the phone should still be in her hands. 

Pegasus whipped around and hurled his horseshoe at the figure that entered the room behind him.

The man, presumably a Mark, caught it with ease. 

“Thank you. I needed this.” 

His weapon and communicator, the missing phone, the call luring him here. Pegasus’ mind whirred as he put the pieces together.

“This won’t work. You won’t get all of them,” Pegasus put up a fighting stance. 

The Mark grinned. “I think I will. The odds are in my favor. And I think that’s enough audio recording.” 

Pegasus didn’t even have a chance to dodge before he shared the same status as his mother.

Eclipse looked down at the horseshoe in his hands. Out of all the gears, this one was the most uncertain. Being magical, he wasn’t entirely sure he could access it. He hoped his own current connection to Hawkmoth’s Miraculous, along with his technology, would be able to access it.

For a very long second, he waited for his technology to interface with the communicator. 

He grinned as different options showed on his visor. 

Activating his voice adapter, he dialed the monkey.

“King Monkey, I need you to come quickly! The Mark is here but I only have a 11.934% chance of defeating him alone! I have already contacted Ladybug and she is sending someone to replace you. Come to my coordinates immediately!”

“You got it Pegasus! Bet I can get there in twenty minutes!” The call ended. 

Perfect. Now all Eclipse had to do was set the scene, and let the big-hearted monkey walk right into it. 

Soon King Monkey paused outside of the door, breathing heavily. He had made it in nineteen minutes, beating his own bet. He put his hand on the door, ready to burst in and help out his buddy Pegasus and…

His thoughts trailed off as he realized he knew this place. This was his buddy Max’s house! 

This was an awesome coincidence! He could help Pegasus and show Max what an amazing superhero he was, even if he couldn’t actually tell Max it was him.

He swung the door open and threw himself in.

King Monkey didn’t see any Mark or Pegasus, but he immediately noticed a familiar horseshoe hanging up on the opposing wall. He rushed to it, and took it off the wall. 

Suddenly, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. A basketball flying at him. He dropped the horseshoe and his staff and easily caught the ball. 

“Hah! I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to have to do better if your trying to surp-”

King Monkey stopped speaking. He was frozen, mid sentence, the basketball still in his hands.

Eclipse stepped out of the doorway and scooped up both weapons and chuckled. Both of the boys had good instincts, but it was just too easy to take advantage of them. He called up two of the special robots he had standing by. 

Green and ghostly, the Martian Manhunter robots phased through the wall. He gave them their instructions.

Each robot picked a weapon, then morphed into the respective hero of its holder. The simulacrums weren’t perfect, but they would fool anyone who didn’t get too close. They went off to the Eiffel tower, to continue battling until Eclipse was done. 

Two down, eight to go.

After considering his options, Eclipse decided to go after the two at the Louvre. He needed his robots to wear down the remaining heroes. Hawkmoth warned him about Viperion, and how his ability to rewrite recent time would prove difficult. 

But he wasn’t worried about the turquoise hero. He was more worried about the tigress, whose identity was still unknown. Unknown identity meant unknown actions, unknown reactions. He already had a plan for her power set, but with unknown variables there could be unknown results

Still, there was nothing else to do but make his move. 

As instructed, the robots had moved the fight to inside the Louvre. They thinned their own numbers and split up, to keep the heroes separated but not overwhelmed. 

Eclipse entered the Louvre and headed for the area where Viperion was supposed to be. So he was surprised when he entered the room and saw no hero, only robot parts.

Suddenly, something struck him from behind. He stumbled forward and turned around, only for Viperion to strike him again. Eclipse tried to jump at Viperion, but he sidestepped and stuck him in the side. 

So… how many times had they done this?

He took a step back, reconsidering his next move.Viperion hesitated, and Eclipse knew that he had changed the cycle, probably through the observer effect. 

He had to make his move now. 

Raising his chronal blaster, Eclipse released a wave of chronal energy. He had early calibrated the right frequency to be dissonant to the chronal energy Viperion had accumulated.

Viperion screamed, dropping his harp and clutching his head. 

Eclipse winced. Maybe his calculations were a little off. Chronal energy was still an uncertainty, even in his own time period.

He quickly paused Viperion in time to put a stop to his pain. With a cry that loud, the other girl would be here soon. And he doubted she would be pleased with what he had done with her partner. 

Hot, white pain. Eclipse gripped his left arm, now bleeding, and cursed. “Infrared, infrared on,” he muttered. 

There she was, right in front of him. He threw himself to the side. Tricky invisibility. 

Even with his infrared on, she was difficult to hit because she wouldn’t stop moving. She was ferociously attacking him with a knife he couldn’t even see, moving from side to side to dodge his retaliations. And was that, growling he heard? 

She seemed to be taking attack personally, which didn’t entirely fit with what he knew. This Tiger Lily had only been active for a few months, not likely enough to form a close personal bond with a hero she she statistically would have fought extremely few battles with. A bond she was showing as she tried to stab him. Repeatedly. 

Well well, maybe she knew the snake boy out of costume.

So instead of facing the girl, Eclipse ran at Viperion, forcing his left arm towards Viperion’s bracelet.

“No!” the huntress cried, and made the mistake of dashing straight at him. 

Eclipse whipped around and fired off a double shot: one of blaster energy knocking the knife out of Tiger Lily’s hand, and the other freezing her in place. 

That was a close one. He leaned against the wall as he caught his breath and assessed his wound. That magic knife had penetrated his force field. The cut wasn’t very deep, and it had stopped bleeding. But it still hurt. A lot.

Still, there was work to be done. Eclipse called up two more Martian Manhunter robots and programmed them to take the fallen heroes places. He hadn’t been able to record the voices of either hero, which presented a problem. If either hero was contacted, he would lose his element of surprise, and his plan become greatly more complicated.

He would have to win before that could happen. 

So, on to the next pair. The couple. Their experience posed a problem, as according to his data they were among the first that Ladybug recruited for help. But he could exploit them all the same.

When Eclipse arrived at the park, the two heroes were still going strong, their ongoing conversation alternating between sarcastic remarks and romantical words. 

How cute. He wondered if they would stay together after their permanent defeat. 

Eclipse ordered a Green Arrow robot to hit each of their weapons with a special foaming gel that would make their weapons useless for the next ten minutes or so. He ordered for the girl to be targeted first.

Moments later, he saw the vixen hero shout a warning to her partner as her flute was rendered useless. The boy watched carefully and was able to dodge the second arrow. 

Eclipse watched as the boy protected and literally shielded the girl as the robots renewed their efforts. The girl was by no means helpless, but she was cut short an advantage by having to get closer to the robots to disarm them.

He made his move.

Dashing across, the field, he attacked Rena Rouge almost savagely. As Eclipse predicted, Carapace was too focused in his efforts of protection to remember to call for backup. 

The two were agile and strong, but so was he, and his many years of experience was able to trump their few. He was soon able to knock the sly fox to the ground and kick away the shield Carapace hurled at him. 

As Eclipse aimed his freezing blast at the girl, the boy, as expected, protected the girl with his own body and became frozen himself. His body made a thud as it hit the ground.

“Carapace!” Rena Rouge shrieked. She jumped up with a graceful backflip, red rage in her eyes.

“You are so going down,” she snarled. 

Eclipse shrugged. “Perhaps. But I still managed to fool even the fox.”

The fox stiffened. But before she could do anything else, a red blur dashed to her and threw a golden lasso around her. A Wonder Woman robot proceeded to slam her to the ground, where Eclipse was able to finish the fight. 

This was all going wonderfully. He only had two more to go, before the final opponents. 

At the Eiffel Tower, Ryuko and Wagz were easily holding their own. Ryuko slipped under her opponent’s guards and disabled them with extreme prejudice, while Wagz used his slingshot to assail enemies from his perch on top of the Eiffel tower. 

“Wagz,” Ryuko called up to her current partner. “Have you noticed the steady increase in robots over the past few hours?”

His floppy ears perked. “No really,” he replied cheerfully. His fluffy tail, similar to that of a golden retrievers, shook as he managed to knock off the head of a distant Green Arrow robot. “But if you think so, you’re probably right.” 

She thought for a moment. “Contact Ladybug. If something is wrong she will have noticed as well.” Wagz nodded.

“Heya Ladybug! Me and Ryuko...oh, ok, I mean Ryuko and I (was that right Ryuko?) are doing great against these robots! But Ryuko said she thinks more robots have been coming. You noticed that?” 

“Ladybug said she has, but we’re the only ones to have asked her about it. She says to check in with the others.” 

Ryuko wasn’t listening. Instead, she stared down at an alley.

“Come on. I saw something. If it’s the Mark, we can put an end to this now.” She leaped off the base of the tower, landing on a robot and crushing it. Wagz followed her lead, hooking the rubbery part in his slingshot to part of the tower and bungeed down. 

  
  


Eclipse smiled. Ryuko, or Kagami, showed her skill as she fought, He knew this was a girl with experience and talent. All it took was the slightest flash of gold ducking into an alley for her to immediately be alerted and in pursuit, with the dog boy behind her. The boy himself didn’t pose much of a threat to him. His power did. Eclipse’s timing would have to be exactly right. 

He watched from an above window as the hero's darted into the alley. Skeets stopped exactly where Eclipse had told him to. The hero’s stopped in front of Skeets in confrontation. He saw the girl hesitate, and knew she wasn’t entirely caught off guard. 

No matter. 

Eclipse activated the small explosives he had placed in empty rooms across him. Glass and rubble rained down towards the girl and the boy. The girl shouted something and a pulsing ball of water expanded outwards, shielding them from the debris mixed with fire.

That’s when Skeets activated a strong electrical pulse that knocked both Ryuko and Wagz to their knees. The girl seemed to be struggling more, as she had just used the essence of water. The emblems Eclipse waited, tense until he saw the boy touch the girl and speak the words of Restoration he had been waiting for. Now.

He leaped out of the room he had been waiting in, sending glass shards crashing on the street below him. The girl was beginning to glow as the power of the dog took place. He took half a second to aim at the girl, who was still to stunned to react.

Blast. The boy had seen what he was doing and pushed her out of the way, taking her place. He had been to slow.

Eclipse was forced to move to plan B.

He just hoped magic metal was at least somewhat subject to the laws of physics. 

Ryuko stood, her strength and powers restored. She looked furious. Good. The more distracted she was the better. He ran straight at her, and slipped past her lunge to put a small electrical device on the base of her sword.

He tried to leap back before the fencer remembered she wasn’t using a sabre, but he had no such luck. Blood streamed from a slash in his side.

With her opponent distracted, Ryuko disengaged and tried to contact Ladybug. 

“Ladybug, I have found the Mark. He-”

Eclipse forced Ryuko to stop as he fired several blaster bolts at her, which she was able to intercept with her sword. As she blocked, he activated the device he planted on her sword, orienting whatever kind of metal atoms in her sword.

He ran at her again, as she put up her sword in wary defense. As soon as he got close, he activated to magnet in his left gauntlet. With her sword successfully diverted, he was able to elbow her in the mouth, preventing her from summoning any elements. 

Ryuko stumbled backwards and coughed. Still, she had enough time for one defiant act. Activating the video on her sword, she was able to give Ladybug a glimpse at who her opponent was.

Then the dragon was frozen, the last of the auxiliary heroes. 

So, Ladybug was on to him now. It didn’t matter. His main worry was their strength in numbers. Now all he had to do was disable them, and he would win. 

“Excellent job, Eclipse.” Eclipse could feel Hawkmoth’s excitement and grow as the weapon he made came closer to completing his own goal. 

“Cool it Hawkmoth,” Eclipse growled. Hawkmoth’s excitement was starting to leak into his own feelings. “Remember what you said: you’ll give back all your Miraculous once you’ve revived your wife.”

“Of course.” 

Still, he could feel Hawkmoth silently trying to assert more control, gain more influence. He blocked it out. There was nothing more Hawkmoth could do anyways. With his boosted intelligence and chronal blaster, he had five more plans for every one that failed. Personal agendas, personal pain didn’t matter. 

There was only the goal.

Over at the Bourgeois hotel, Ladybug finished trying to call any of her friends. 

“I think it’s down to just you and me Chat.”

Chat Noir leapt back from the robot he had just disabled. “Guess we’re doing it the old fashioned way again M’Lady. You and me.”

Ladybug took another look at the picture Ryuko had sent them as she swung around the room. The Mark didn’t look like anyone they fought before, but she thought his costume looked somewhat familiar. She just couldn’t place it. 

A ding from somewhere in the lobby caught her attention. To her great surprise, Chloe Bourgeois stepped out into the battlefield. She yelped as an arrow flew towards her, and barely moved out of the way in time. 

She ran over to Chat Noir and told him something, her hands waving wildly. After the events of Miracle Queen, she had refused to talk to Ladybug at all. She stopped talking much to anyone else, not that she had much choice because everyone had stopped talking to her as well. Her only companion was Sabrina nowadays. Ladybug wondered if she would ever change.

Well, if Chloe was down here, she must think whatever she had to say was really important. Ladybug fought furiously, trying to draw more attention to herself and away from Chat Noir and Chloe. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner scoop up Chloe and practically throw her into the elevator, giving a little hand wave as the doors closed. Then he made his way over to Ladybug. 

“She said that there was a hero who came to the hotel yesterday, hasn’t seen him since. His name was Booster Gold. She thinks he could have been akumatized.”

Booster Gold… she knew that name. He was an American hero, she was pretty sure, but there was something else about him. 

Then Ladybug remembered why the name seemed so familiar. A few years ago, she heard about a hero from many centuries in the future, and she had eagerly looked up his costume to see how fashion had progressed. 

His hadn’t apparently.

But she at least knew what his suit looked like. His was blue and gold, with a face visor and a star in the middle…

Just like the Mark in the picture. Different color scheme, but very similar.

“Chloe’s right,” Ladybug said grimly. “We’re fighting an akumatized hero. This is what we always feared would happen. I guess our warning to Wonder Woman wasn’t enough.” 

“It’s ok Ladybug, we’re heroes too. We can still do this. What’s your timer say?”

She garroted another robot and pulled in the yoyo to take a look at it. “We have about half an hour left.”

Chat Noir broke his staff into two batons. “Then we have half an hour to show this Mark why we’re so paw-sitive he’s going to lose.”

So for the next fifteen minutes, they fought against the increasing number of robots. They dodged arrows, heat blasts, and golden lariats, spinning and leaping against the rising odds, knowing all the while a bigger fight was coming.

And then he was there.

“Ladybug. Chat Noir. I am Eclipse. I’m going to be courteous and ask before we fight. Give me your Miraculous now. End this, end all of this. End the suffering, the dying. I promise, the Miraculous will be returned to you. But Hawkmoth needs them, he needs them for…”

He trailed off as a familiar purple outline appeared outside his face. 

“Just, give them to me. Now.”

Ladybug looked sideways at Chat Noir, who tightened his hands around his staff. Ladybug looked back at Eclipse. She began to spin her yoyo.

“Never.”

They charged at each other. 

Eclipse was fast and strong, and clearly experienced. The two heroes together could barely fend him off, had to be constantly dodging and rolling away from his blaster shots. 

Worse, the more they fought, the better Eclipse was able to anticipate their moves. His aim slowly grew closer to his targets, and Ladybug and Chat Noir had to throw it into overdrive. 

Chat Noir tried to get in close, where it would be harder to Eclipse to stop him. 

“Come on,” Ladybug called. “Aren’t you supposed to be a hero? You’re helping a villain! Please, Booster Gold, let us help you.”

“Kids, you’re too young. You can’t see the big picture. Once Hawk Moth gets the Miraculous, he’ll be done. You can still be heroes, but without having your Parisian people be traumatized daily.”

Chat Noir grunted as he struggled against Eclipse’s strength. “You’re an American hero, right? What about we don’t negotiate with terrorists? Never surrender, never retreat? Remember the Alamo?”

Eclipse sighed. “Well, I tried. I’m a lot smarter than you. I tried doing this the easy way. But there’s no way you can win. I’m stronger and faster and smarter than both of you. So I’m afraid,” he lifted up Chat Noir’s staff, with the feline hero still attached, and slammed them against the ground. 

“That you are out of time.”

“Cataclysm! Ladybug, lucky charm now!”

Chat Noir desperately shielded himself from Eclipse while Ladybug cast up her lucky charm. She held her breath as it shimmered in the air, hoping for something obvious and useful. 

Her hopes shattered Eclipse blasted the item, whatever it was, out a window. She whirled around and saw Chat Noir frozen on the ground, his hand still outstretched. 

Ladybug’s heart fluttered. Here she was, alone again. But this time, she didn’t even had the magic of the lucky charm. She only had herself.

And for the next few minutes, just herself would have to be enough.

Ladybug tried to be unpredictable as possible, as the seconds stretched out. She struck like Ryuko, dodged like Viperion, moved like Tiger Lily. She fought for every moment, harder than she ever had before.

Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough. Eclipse was still able to gain the upper hand, and eventually hit her hard in the temple.

She stumbled back, and that was all he needed to freeze her in time, bluebell eyes looking on in sad desperation.

“Eclipse. Well done.” Hawkmoth, despite his smooth tone, seemed almost giddy with excitement. 

“Now take the Miraculous and I will tell you where to meet me.” 

Eclipse, for a moment, didn’t move. “They, they’re just kids.” He murmured. 

Somewhere, outside the building, a little yoyo beeped as a long awaited timer counted down.

And Eclipse heard a voice he hadn’t imagined he would hear that day.

“Michael? My God, is that you? What are you doing, what have you  _ done _ ?”

“What happened to you buddy?”

Ted Kord. Blue Beetle. His, or Booster Gold’s best friend.

“I’m, I’m doing what I said I was going to do. I’m stopping Hawkmoth once and for all.”

Blue Beetle ignored him and rushed past him to look at the two heroes frozen in time. “What- these are just kids! You’ve been fighting kids, not Hawkmoth. I know what’s happening. You’ve been akumatized. Just stop now. I’m sure this can be fixed.”

“Blue. I can’t stop, not now. I’m so close. Once I give these Miraculous to Hawkmoth-”

“So you’re rewarding a terrorist for bad behavior Booster.”

“It’s not Booster. It’s Eclipse.” He raised his chronal blaster, planning to stop his friend without hurting him. 

Blue Beetle tapped a device in his hand, and Eclipse visor turned to static. He pulled off his mask with a curse. His suit felt like a hundred tiny joy buzzers were going off across his body.

“That was an EMP.” Blue Beetle’s voice was firm. “No weapons, no doing to me whatever you did to them. If your going to stop me from helping you, you’re going to have to do it yourself.”

“Eclipse,” Hawkmoth whispered in his mind. “Don’t listen to him. You’re helping everyone in Paris. You are a hero.” 

“Booster Gold. You’re my best friend. Don’t fight me, fight him. Let me help you.” Blue Beetle advanced slowly.

Eclipse gripped his head. “Shut up. Both of you,” he muttered. He couldn’t think, not with two voices telling him different things.

“Booster.”

“Eclipse!”

“Buddy.”

“ECLIPSE!” 

“Shut UP!” he screamed. He ran at Blue Beetle and slammed him to the ground. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” With each word he pounded in his friend in the face, long after he stopped reacting to the blows. 

His words slowly dissolved into sobs. He looked at his bloody, bloody hands. Blue Beetle was unconscious, his chest barely rising for each breath. 

“Oh God,” he whimpered. “No, no no NO!” He screamed till his lungs were out of air. 

Then, with a last burst of energy, he slammed the chronal blaster into the ground, shattering it into a hundred little pieces. Then he collapsed.

For a minute, the room was still. 

Someone hopped through the window. Footsteps padded carefully around the glass on the floor.

“Ladybug,” Bunnyx breathed. She clenched her fists. “I, I have to fix this, somehow.” 

Behind her, Booster Gold stirred.

Looking around the room, he seemed confused by the destruction around him. He looked at his hands, still covered in blood.

“What happened?” he asked, bewildered. “Whose blood is this. Why don’t I remember what happened.” He saw his friend a few feet away, his face a bloody mess. 

“Blue..”

Booster Gold crawled over to his friend, clutching his wrist to reassure himself of the pulse that was still there.

“You did this. All of it.” Bunnyx couldn’t stop anger from coming through her words. She was still trying to figure out what to do. Ladybug trusted her, and now she had to show she was worthy of that by fixing this whole mess.

“You can’t undo all of this then,” he croaked.

Bunnyx looked daggers at him. “Yes I can. And I will.”

“No, you gotta listen. I’m kinda an expert in time travel.” he dragged himself into a sort of sitting position. “I don’t really know what I did. But if you stop me today from doing it, I may just do it another day. Or a real hero might come through and do a lot worse.”

He looked up pleadingly. “Trust me, time usually has a way of making some things happen. You would have to completely erase the cause of an event to stop that event from happening at all. So you have to find a way to fix the damage, not stop this from happening.”

Bunnyx thought for a moment. Then an idea struck her. Only Ladybug could fix this. So she needed to get Ladybug. 

She created a portal to the past and readied her umbrella. One of her ears twitched in anticipation. 

Then she leapt in.

A few moments later, a shocked Ladybug emerged from the white space. She turned back to the portal, yelling for Bunnyx, but it disappeared before the white rabbit could reappear.

Ladybug looked around, assessing the situation. She looked at Booster Gold with compassion as he tried to help his friend. At herself and Chat Noir frozen.

She walked outside and retrieved her lucky charm. Throwing it up in the air, she called upon the Miraculous Cure to fix all the things that had been broken. 

At least, almost all the broken things.

Chat Noir unfroze, while the other Ladybug disappeared. Bunnyx also was returned to the room. The blue hero who had been injured came back to health and consciousness. Beside him, Booster Gold watched as a swarm of ladybugs washed over his hands and removed the blood.

Ladybug captured the little akuma that was still fluttering in the room. Chat Noir walked up to her, rubbing his head. 

“Meow-ch M’lady. I feel better, but I’m still beat. If you’re ok, then I think I’ll be heading home.” Ladybug nodded. The fight was over, she could pick up the loose ends herself.

“And Ladybug,” he put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t stress too much about this one. There wasn’t anything we did wrong, and we won in the end.”

“I know Chat,” she said quietly, putting her own hand on his, glad of the comfort. He knew her well. “But this was a really close one. We can’t let this happen, ever again.”

He nodded. “But we can worry about that another day.” With that he leaped out the window, and was gone. 

Ladybug breathed in, counted to three, and breathed out. Then she walked over to the two heroes. They were arguing about something. 

“-no man, I nearly killed you. Even if I can’t exactly remember it, I can still feel it. It was my fault. I’m done. That’s it.”

Booster Gold turned his head over as Ladybug came near. He refused to look at her in the eyes, and instead focused on some point past her shoulder. 

“Booster Gold, this is not your fault,” she said gently. “Thousands of people in the city have been taken over by akumas. It’s Hawkmoth that does this. He’s a terrorist and the more people he hurts the more he wins.”

“I could have fought more. I could have ignored him the moment he tried to worm his way into my head, I could have actually listened to Wonder Woman and never come here in the first place. It’s my big ego that did this.” 

“But you stopped. You fought him. You were the hero that won-”

“Don’t. Just, don’t call me a hero. I’m no hero.” He walked off, not wanting to hear any more. 

Ladybug pulled a card out of her yoyo and handed it to the blue hero. “Here’s the number of someone he can talk to, a therapist who has experience helping people recover from akumatization. I hope he can recover.”

The man took the card slowly, worry for his friend still evident on his face. “Thank you, miss. And I don’t have a number to give you, but if you ever decide you need help with Hawkmoth from some other older heroes, contact me through the Justice League. Money, contacts, someone to talk to who gets it, whatever. Just let me know.” 

Ladybug sighed. “Thank you sir. I might take you up on the talking, but for reasons that I think you saw today, I can’t let other heroes help. I’m not alone, I promise, but I can only let people who already know what it’s like here to help. ”

He nodded. “Good luck then.” He pulled out a communicator and dialed something. Then he walked away as he began talking. “Batman? Hi. Do you remember that thing that Wonder Woman told the Justice League? Oh. Of course you already knew. Yes, Paris is fine. Booster? Well…” His voice trailed out of hearing. 

The next thing Ladybug did was contact the other heroes, telling them where to meet her so she could collect their Miraculous. After picking them all up, she finally went home.

Ducking into her room from the roof, she detransformed just as she heard her parents enter the bakery. She ran down the steps and into her papa’s arms, loving the feeling of being safe in his arms. 

He ruffled her hair. “Well Marinette, I know this has been a bad day, but it’s your day all the same. Happy Birthday daughter.”

Marinette had completely forgotten. Her birthday. That was today? It felt like days ago.

Her mama had her turn hugging her after her papa finally released her. “Your friends are throwing you a birthday party in the park. We’ll take you there right now, unless you want to wait because of the attack.”

“No mama. I want to go. Let me get ready.”

She ran back upstairs and changed her outfit. Tikki hovered nearby, looking worried but not saying anything. 

Marinette had a good time at her party. It was nice to relax with friends and family. But it was hard to go long without replaying the day in her mind. It felt like she had failed. 

“Marinette, you ok?” Luka walked over, his guitar strung over his neck as usual. He started to play a happy little song that sounded like the strings were dancing. 

Marinette laughed. “Luka, I’m starting to think you have a Marinette-o-meter that goes off whenever I’m sad.”

He grinned. “Maybe.” 

After cake and presents, everyone went home. Marinette sat in the car, stroking the fabrics Adrien had given her. They were unimaginably soft. She was already coming up with ideas to turn them into dresses, and nice shirts, and they would feel great as pajamas.

Before Marinette went upstairs, her parents gave her a gift, wrapped elegantly in red and blue paper and ribbons. 

“Marinette,” her mama said. “This has been passed down in my family, from child to child. And now that you’ve turned sixteen, it’s yours.”

Marinette carefully undid the wrapping to reveal a beautiful bracelet of with beads of jade and petrified wood. She remembered the bracelet hanging on her mothers arm in her distant memories of early childhood. 

“Oh mama, it’s beautiful.” Marinette hugged both of her parents before going upstairs, the bracelet in her hand. In her room, she set it against the fabric Adrien had given her. She grabbed her sketch book and immediately began putting some ideas in her head on paper. 

Tikki came out to snuggle with Marinette and admire the bracelet. But when she got closer, she frowned. 

“Marinette, I think I’ve seen this before.” 

Marinette eyes widened. “Are you sure? Where did you see it?”

Tikki flew in circles as she tried to remember. “I’m not sure. It was a really long time ago, I think.”

Marinette put the bracelet on, admiring how it shone in the light. “Ok Tikki, let me know if you remember.”

A light tapping came from her window.

Tikki quickly hid as Marinette went to greet her visitor. She opened the window and saw a faint golden reflection, as well as two luminous green eyes. “Come in Chat.”

He quickly swung in, holding something gently in the claws of one of his hands. “Hi Marinette,” the feline greeted cheerfully. “It’s your birthday today, right?” He gave her the little gift. Inside were a pair of Chat Noir themed socks.

Marinette fell down on her chair and laughed. “Aw Chat. I should have known that you would give me the kind of gift where I think of you when I look at my feet.” 

Chat Noir gave a sheepish grin. “Well, there are only so many things I can get buy without looking suspicious. But happy birthday Marinette.” He perches on the windowsill. 

“Oh, and if you end up having a soulmate, let me know. I’d happily be the one to threaten to hide the body if you get hurt.” He winked.

Marinette giggled. “I think both of my parents already have that covered, but thanks.”

The sharp points of Chat Noirs canines glinted as he smiled. Then he was gone in the night, back to wherever he came from.

“Tikki,” Marinette wondered. “Will my soulmate be able to see my memories of being Ladybug? Or if my soulmate is a miraculous user, would I be able to see them?”

Tikki shook her head. “No, the magic of the Miraculous will keep all memories when you are Ladybug hidden, including any time around the Miraculous or any memories where I or another Kwami was present.”

“Wow. That’s almost sad Tikki. Most of my best memories are of either being Ladybug or being with you!” 

Tikki squeaked happily and snuggled up to Marinette. They stayed like that until Marinette yawned, and Tikki gently tugged her towards her pajamas in the closet. 

Soon Marinette was in bed, ready for sleep and dreams. “G’night Tikki,” she murmured.

“Good night Marinette. Sweet dreams.”

Some hours later, Marinette woke, screaming.

Tikki hovered anxiously, but before she could say anything she was forced to hide as Sabine burst into the room, a ceramic towel rod in her hand. 

Marinette ran straight to her, crying. Thomas stumbled into the room, a large book in his hand. He dropped it when he saw Marinette unharmed, but crying into her mothers arms. 

“Marinette, sweetie what’s wrong?” Sabine asked.

“It’s my soulmate,” Marinette sobbed.

“He’s dead.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also, have fun with guessing the significance of the bracelet, because I guarantee no one will see it coming. Let's just say I'm blending both DC and Miraculous mythology for that one. As always, please give comments and kudos because they are my sustenance. Thanks!


	4. Blue Friends and Green Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette tries to ge though another day of school after having a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also: in which the author needs to throw plot in.

Marinette woke up, gasping for air as adrenaline coursed through her body. Tikki was immediately there, cuddling close to her for comfort.

“Marinette, did you have the dream again?”

She nodded, not wanting to speak. Tears threatened to overflow from her eyes onto the blankets. “Tikki, when will it end? When will I stop seeing him killed, over and over again in my dreams?”

Tikki snuggled closer. “I don’t know Marinette, I’m sorry.”

“But Tikki, it’s been months. I want to get over it, but every time. . .”

Instead of speaking, Tikki just stayed closer to Marinette as she felt the girl’s heartbeat slowly settle down.

Marinette didn’t sleep yet, she never could fall back immediately after that dream. So she stayed in the darkness, her half conscious mind lingering on thoughts of her soulmate.

Tikki tried to help, by tugging on the edges of the blankets until they completely covered the girl. Then she settled on the pillow next to Marinette and worried over her wielder. Because Tikki was very worried. More than she told Marinette.

Ever since her birthday, when she fought, lost, and then had the first dream, Marinette had been slowly wilting, like a flower whose season was ending. Tikki wasn’t sure what really started it, whether it was the shock of losing or the first nightmare, or maybe it was neither, just a consequence of fighting a battle as one so young. Human’s matured quickly compared to kwamis: some days Tikki was still unsure if Plagg was there yet. But the girl still seemed young and fragile some days, despite Tikki’s best attempt at care.

And then there were the reoccuring nightmares. Marinette told her Tikki it was the first soulmate dream every time. Marinette had seen a lot of terrible things, but to see a young boy, really a child, killed so brutally had shaken Marinette deeply. Even Hawkmoth hadn’t done anything that horrific… yet.

So on these nights Marinette was trapped by thoughts of her soulmate.

The dream happened so often that Marinette was even able to figure out the identity of her soulmate: the American hero Robin. She hadn't been able to see his face clearly, as the soulmate magic blurred out physical features. But the colors still showed, so she was able to make out the traditional colors of his costume. That, and the unconscious figure of Nightwing nearby clued Marinette in.

Marinette’s soulmate was another hero like her, one who had also been fighting from a young age. But she would never get to know him now, because he had died. No, not died. Been killed, murdered. Beaten, pierced with arrows, and finally stabbed through the heart.

Marinette had always had some comfort that to a certain extent, few things around her as Ladybug were permanent. All the pain, all the damage could be taken away with two magical words. But her soulmate's death was something she could never heal.

A few days after her dream, Marinette had looked up info about the young hero. About five years ago, the Robin at that time disappeared and wasn’t seen for months. After a while, Robin was once again sighted on the streets of Gotham. Marinette had wondered where all these new Robins came from. This new one would be what, the sixth?

A small part of Marinette wanted to go to Gotham herself, and meet the family of her soulmate. She never had any siblings, but wondered what it would be like to have people know you so well; friends that could change from, as she had seen once in a later soulmate dream, dangling someone from a building to putting their own life in danger to protect them. It seemed incredibly strange. But some selfish part of Marinette wanted that, to leave her responsibilities to see a family she didn’t think belonged to her anyways.

But she couldn’t. She was cursed “to live in interesting times.” She was Ladybug, and she protected Paris. Besides, there was no way her soulmate could have been sixteen before he died, so his family didn’t even know fate had tried to link them together. They probably wouldn’t even accept her, a complete stranger.

So she would stay. Stay, and protect Paris for all the days that stretched into weeks, that stretched into months, that had stretched into years.

With those ever-reaching thoughts, the Guardian of Paris finally fell asleep.

Tikki, knowing the night Marinette had, quickly turned off Mariennte’s alarms when they went off. She fluttered around the room, packing all of Marinette’s things for school. She picked out an outfit she had seen the young lover of fashion put together before.

When she was done, she gently woke the girl, and helped her get ready as quickly as possible. Marinette didn’t say a word, but the sleepy smile she gave Tikki made her practically glow with happiness.

Sabine saw the dark clouds on Marinette’s face as soon as she came into view. She immediately pulled her daughter into a hug. Thomas saw what was happening and enthusiastically pulled them both into his arms. They stayed like that for a blessed sixty seconds, until Marinette had to stop. There was still school. She waved her parents goodbye as she walked out the door, a breakfast pastry in hand.

Another day of school. Marinette braced himself for what it would bring. Maybe it would be good, and Lila would leave her alone. Or maybe she would weave her witchy-magic and get most of the class to believe every word that came out of her mouth.

As soon as Marinette entered the room, she saw Lila give her a hidden smirk. Great. So it was going to be like that.

As Marinette walked by, too tired to listen to whatever was coming out of Lila’s mouth, the redhead moved backwards one inch, just as Marinette neared her. As soon as they touched, Lila stumbled forward.

“Marinette! What was that for?” A look of sadness showed on Lila’s face.

Marinette groaned inwardly. Three, two, one. She counted the delay from which Lila’s words were always able to deliver their intended effects.

Everyone nearby looked at her with narrowed eyes and arched eyebrows.

“Girl, come on. We all know you and Lila don’t get along, but running into her isn’t called for.”

A few more chimed in, stating their disappointment as well. Some others nearby rolled their eyes, though at who Marinette wasn’t sure. Marinette shut her eyes and got in her seat. That was stupid. Why did she even go near Lila? She knew what the girl was capable of. That was almost her own fault, if she wasn’t there for Lila to bother she wouldn’t be bothered.

That’s how it went now at school. Lila didn’t play too hard anymore, like trying to get her expelled, but her harassment just wouldn’t stop. It went on and on and on. It made Marinettte more and more tired, and it was getting harder to enjoy school.

Even her good friendship with Alya had become strained. Alya just couldn’t understand what Marinette had against the ostensibly innocent Lila, so Marinette had noticed her slowly distance herself from her until their friendship was barely hanging on. Nino was more dubious of Lila, Marinette thought, but he still stuck with Alya. Marinette still ultimately trusted them though, or she wouldn't have still given them Miraculous in emergencies.

Marinette avoided Lila’s eyes as she helped the teacher pass out some papers. She bit her lip as she saw her latest grade. She wasn’t failing, but her grades were definitely falling down towards the low B’s.

The numbers on the page blurred as Marinette yawned and desperately tried to stay awake. She was just so tired. Sleep was calling to her. Why was she this tired? Sleep, an old familiar friend.

“Oh, Marinette!”

Marinette jerked upwards. Everyone was staring at her. Her cheeks flushed hot and red as she realized she had fallen asleep.

“Marinette, are you ok?” a sickly-sweet voice spoke again. “Wow, you look sooo tired. What are you doing at night, instead of sleeping?”

Come on, deep breaths. Don’t lose it. Especially here. She was Ladybug.

And Ladybug didn’t, couldn’t get upset.

Marinette did her best to ignore both Lila and the class’ stares, and focused on her test. What she got wrong, and how she could do better next time.

The day dragged on, but finally school ended. Marinette perked up. She had told her parents she would walk around and look for creative inspiration after school. And she would do that too, to assure herself she wasn’t really lying.

But there was something else she had planned for the afternoon. Two very important things.

Marinette stashed her school things in her locker, done with work for the day. She secured the lock on the handle, an addition only after she realized Lila had no compunctions about going through her locker. Marinette didn’t like the necessity, but she had made it hers anyways by painting it a pretty pink, with small white flowers.

Finally. She was alone. She double checked to make sure no cameras and no Lila was nearby. Then she transformed and went swinging to the rooftops.

When Ladybug found a rooftop that was more or less sheltered from the outside view, she took out her yoyo. She counted these times precious, a time when she could relax and not be the responsible one.

Blue Beetle answered on the second ring. “Hey kiddo, how are you doing?”

Ladybug smiled, probably the most genuine smile she had made that day. “I’m good Uncle Blue!”

After the Eclipse “catastrophe” (as Chat Noir loved to put it), Marinette had talked with Tikki, and decided to accept his offer of a talk. He had seemed kind and respectful, and it was thanks to him that Hawkmoth hadn’t won that day.

Blue Beetle, when she got to know him, turned out to be a funny, yet still mature hero, with much more experience than her. Talking to him always made her feel better, and also helped her destress from whatever she had to be dealing with. His sarcasm and quips helped turn her away from negative emotions as she unloaded her problems.

Best of all, he didn’t treat her like an incompetant child, like she had seen some older authority figures do.

She’s too young, they whispered. She can’t do this.

But she had been doing this. And until the day either she or Hawkmoth were defeated, she would keep doing it.

Blue Beetle saw her maturity and determination, and just tried to give her advice instead of scolding, and was above all a good friend.

The two colored beetles talked for at least an hour, until he said something so funny she fell backwards in laughter.

“You’re funnier than Chat Noir,” she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

“Hey, from what you’ve told me, his puns sound purrfect to me.”

Ladybug shot him something akin to a glare, but couldn’t hold it and began to laugh again.

“Speaking of your partner, have you talked to him yet about what I said?”

Ladybug’s laughter faded, and she shrugged. “I’m still not sure if that would even be a good idea. Besides, you know what’s happening today.”

“I- today? That’s today? I should really make something that can remind me of that stuff.”

“You have something. It’s called a calendar.”

He winked at her. “Anyways, when is the official public press meeting?”

“It’s-” she checked the time. “In ten minutes!” She shot up. “I have to go!”

“Good luck kiddo! But please also think about what I said, these guys are pros. I’m pretty sure they would intentionally freeze themselves solid than be compromised..”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. What an exaggeration. But she promised him she would at least discuss the options with Chat Noir.

Then she swung off as quickly as she could, towards the mayor’s press meeting.

As soon as she arrived, the press went crazy, and began taking picture after picture, asking question after question. Ladybug steeled herself. There were so many more than she had imagined. Some reporters even looked international.

“Ladybug! Tell us about what happened that made you and the Parisian government come to this conclusion!”

“Will there be any exceptions?”

“Ladybug, Ladybug!’

Ladybug was relieved when Chat Noir swung down and gave her a reassuring look. “You got this.”

After checking his watch, Mayor Bourgeois cleared his throat and called for attention.

“Thank you, thank you everybody for coming here today. It is with a great sadness that I must announce a new law coming into effect next week, created by the Parisian government, with direction from Ladybug and Chat Noir.” He gestured grandly to the heroes standing next to him.

“So, effective next week, all superheroes, save for our Miraculous heroes and heroines, are legally banned from Paris.”

The crowd immediately erupted. Mayor Bourgeois stepped away from the podium and motioned for Ladybug and Chat Noir to take his place.

Ladybug swallowed. While she hadn’t entirely been sure she would be speaking, she had hoped she wouldn’t have to face the press.

Chat Noir, by contrast, seemed much more comfortable than she did with the multitudes of eyes staring up at them. He began speaking to answer the questions.

“Ladybug and I have decided, with guidance from many advisors, and in agreement with our government, that after the events of Eclipse, that we need a surer way of keeping those with experience that can be used against us, away from Paris. We decided this for the protection of ourselves and for the citizens of Paris.” He looked sideways at Ladybug, who cleared her throat and stepped forwards.

“We tried before with a warning, from a major member of the Justice League telling others that Paris was to be avoided. But that unfortunately didn’t work, and now we can tell it never was going to work permanently. There will always be heroes who want to try to step up where they think we can’t, or heroes who could just not hear this warning. So, we have decided that there needs to be a legal way to turn heroes away.”

Chat Noir tag-teamed with her. “Now, we realize that there are many heroes who have secret identities that would be able to come here out of costume. We ask that you don’t, because you are not immune to Hawkmoth either. No one is. That’s why we have to do this. Anyone without express permission from both Ladybug, me, and the government.”

“While supervillains are already on the wrong side of the law, with agreement from the UN and Gotham City, any villains with a superpower, or any previous combat experience discovered in Paris will be given an immediate sentencing to Blackgate Penitentiary, or Arkham Asylum if that is more appropriate. We are also hoping all of the smart villains will stay away, as being under the control of another is something no self-respecting person would want.”

“Thanks to all of our fellow Parisians for understanding. After all, it is better to anticipate than to heal. By stopping people who can hurt us now, we can worry less about the Marks and focus on defeating Hawkmoth, once and for all!”

The crowd erupted in cheering. The reporters crowded forward, shouting out their questions. Ladybug and Chat Noir tried to answer the best they could, without giving too many details away. One question in particular caught Ladybug’s attention, from a dark-haired American woman. Her voice had genuine kindness in it.

“Ladybug! Booster Gold had been out of public eyes for a while after his akumatization,, how is he recovering?”

“I can’t say anything for sure, but I have been told he’s getting help from good people and is doing much better.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir waved goodbye, when Ladybug noticed something flying towards them.

“Scatter!” Ladybug shouted. She glanced at Chat Noir and he sprang forward, extending his baton against the car. She leapt up to a streetlight and lassoed the car, pulling it to a spot on the ground without any people.

Ladybug looked for the Mark, while Chat Noir guided the crowd away from the direction the car had come from.

It didn’t take long for Ladybug to see something unusual. Vines; thick, lashing vines that cracked the concrete and grabbed at anything within reach.

Ladybug hoped this wasn’t another Weredad.

Soon she was able to spot the root of the vines, and it was a woman. A woman who had green skin, and leaf clothes? And red hair.

No. This was one of the worst things that could happen now. Ladybug recognized this woman; she was the infamous Poison Ivy. But she was a native of Gotham, why was she here? What could she want?

Poison Ivy was screaming in rage, creating a path of destruction. Ladybug spun her yoyo in anticipation. This was it. They had to prove that despite their age, they could handle themselves against large threats.

She also worried that if this was the actual Poison Ivy, because if she was, and not a Mark, Hawkmoth would probably take advantage of her rage and use it for his own purposes. Maybe bring in Mayura too. This could get very bad, very quickly.

Chat Noir landed lightly on the closest streetlamp.

“You ready Ladybug?” He was grinning almost ferally, determined to fight with some sort of smile on his face.

Ladybug grinned as well. “Ready Chat Noir.”

Together they leapt at the lady of Green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I changed the title. I was half-asleep, thought of this, woke up to put a reminder in my phone, and went back to sleep. I honestly write most of this in my head when I'm have asleep. This title will make more sense later (insert author's maniacal laughter here).


	5. A Buzz-y Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug fights off Poison Ivy, trying to figure out what made her go berserk in the first place. Plus some thoughts from Mayura. And the beginnings of a redemption arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to realize I'm using a lot of sub-plots. Hopefully doesn't come back to bite me.

Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur were already watching the news with interest. An announcement from Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves, full of hounding reporters and an anxious audience, could provide an excellent opportunity. Perhaps a child, full of disappointment at not being able to see their favorite superhero in Paris. Or maybe a reporter, frustrated at their question left unanswered. 

Either way, he would be sure to use this opportunity.

The main camera shook as something disturbed the area. The view swiveled to show green vines lashing out everywhere. Shouting was heard in the background.

The tv cut to a new perspective, one that was able to show the cause of the chaos. A screaming woman, clothed with leaves. 

Gabriel jumped from his seat. “Come Nathalie. This one isn’t mine, but she will be soon enough.”

Nathalie nodded, setting down her ipad and going to lock the doors. “This one could be better than Eclipse.”

They went together to the painting of Emilie, and Gabriel activated the hidden sensors. The floor lowered beneath their feet, and brought them to the room where they had tried to machinate Ladybug and Chat Noir’s defeat so many times. 

Gabriel transformed into Hawkmoth, and Nathalie followed, becoming Mayura. 

Like every time, Mayura marveled at how different she looked. Blue skin, tinted eyes, and adorned in a dress. She didn’t entirely like dresses, feeling more comfortable in her business attire, but couldn’t help admiring the way the dress flowed around her legs, the fluffy feathers glistening different shades of blue. It was also surprising comfortable, not cold, and not as hot as it looked.

Mayura’s face silently flared purple. She didn’t really think of herself as, hot, and those words would never usually affect her. But  _ he _ was standing right next to her, and so she became painfully self-aware of her every thought and action.

Duusu had told her that the outfits they wore were something they wanted deep down. Suddenly her complete change in appearance made sense. It wasn’t that she wanted to look different. She wanted to be looked at differently.

Hawkmoth’s cane knocked against the ground. 

“I can’t find her.”

Mayura looked over, puzzled. “What do you mean, sir?”

“I can’t sense her emotions. Either they are not real, or she isn’t. But something is wrong here.” The end of his cane quivered as his hand clenched the top. 

Mayura didn’t speak for a moment, immediately trying to smooth out the situation. That was her job, after all. 

“Maybe we can find someone else to akumatize and amokize.”

Hawkmoth tapped his cane against the ground in frustration. “Yes, but with her current power, she would be so useful.”

“There are more ways to be useful than power.”

“Fine. We will find someone else.”

  
“May I suggest Miss Rossi? She is quite good at monopolizing off of situations.”

“Ah, Miss Rossi. Ever a classic.”

He empowered a butterfly and sent it out. “I want you to amokize the strongest emotion you can find,” he ordered.

Mayura nodded and plucked a feather from her fan. She gently blew on it, imbuing it with power and sending it out. 

  
  
  


Ladybug returned from her search for allies. Ryuko, Viperion and Tiger Lily were with her, and she had another jewel in her hand. 

“Ryuko, Tiger Lily. Use your weapons and focus on the plants. Cut apart as many as you can. I want Poison Ivy distracted and weakened. Viperion, you stay back and use your second chance, help us coordinate. Chat Noir will-”

They all heard a yelp, and Ryuko side-stepped to avoid an airborne Chat Noir, who managed to spring off the ground in a sort of cartwheel. He still managed to crash into a parked car. 

Viperion chuckled. Ryuko grinned, and said “Guess not all cats land on their feet.”

Chat Noir trotted over. “Come on, we all know there’s never been another cat as pawsome as me.”

“Chat Noir, I want you to go against Poison Ivy. Keep her busy and frustrated so I can leap at her from behind and sting her.”

Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. “Sting her? Does this mean you brought the bee miraculous again?” Ladybug nodded.

Fitting the tiny comb in her hair, the metal turning to rose gold, Ladybug combined her powers and became Bumble Bug. 

Chat Noir and Viperion exchanged a look, and Bumble Bug sighed inwardly. Most days she appreciated their worry, but not today.

Tiger Lily didn’t say anything. 

Ryuko did. 

“Ladybug, you are good and gracious and have given me second chances when I did not deserve them. But Chloe not only used her second chances, but abused them. She should never be allowed to wear another miraculous again.”   
  


Bumble Bug shrugged. “I know, I know Chloe doesn’t really deserve it. And yet my instincts are still telling me to wait, to not give it to another holder yet.” 

“No pressure Ladybug,” Tiger Lily muttered. Bumble Bug was a little surprised at her support, she disliked Chloe as much as anyone else in her class. But Tiger Lily must have trusted her and her instincts anyways. 

“Let’s go, before Hawkmoth gets wind of this,” Bumble Bug cut the conversation short. The team nodded and set out to do their jobs. Ryuko wrapped winds around herself and Tiger Lily, and flew them towards the action. Viperion activated his second chance and went for elevation to get a better view. Chat Noir used his staff to vault towards Poison Ivy. 

Bumble Bug began circling around to better sneak up on Poison Ivy. But a sound diverted her attention. A child crying. 

She looked around for the source of the sound, and saw a small boy sheltering behind a car. He was wailing for his parents, but they were nowhere to be seen. 

The boy spotted Bumble Bug, but instead of running towards her, he began running away.

Bumble Bug heard Viperion shout a warning, and the sound of his harp as he flung it through the air.

She realized, heart jolting, that the harp was aiming towards the boy. 

It took every ounce of willpower to not divert the harp.  _ Please let him know what he’s doing. _

To her great surprise, the boy disappeared like mist as the harp passed right through him.

Bumble Bug’s eyes widened. On instinct, she whipped around and hurled her yoyo towards where the boy had been a second ago. 

She was barely in time to catch a little blue feather that had nearly alighted on the boy’s toy watch. Releasing the pure white feather, she took half a second to watch the wind blow it away. 

“Bye bye,” she murmured.

She quickly scooped the boy up into her arms, booping his nose as he stopped crying and looked with at Paris’s heroine with wet, big and brown eyes.

“Are you Ladybug?” he whispered.

“Yes I am! I just look a little different right now. You ready to get out of here?” She looked up, wondering if Viperion could get him to safety, but he was busy, trying to catch Volpina as she darted elusively around him. 

Holding the boy tight, she took the boy to the nearest gathering of people. She saw a man and a woman talking to a police officer blocking off the area, both of their arms waving desperately. The boy squirmed when he saw them, reaching out his little hands towards them. 

Bumble Bug left the boy with parents, after explaining no, they did not take tips. She quickly went back to the fight. 

As she neared the block, she cast her lucky charm. A magnifying glass fell down. No idea what to do with that.

At the fight, they were holding their own, but barely. Ryuko was down to her last element. Viperion had finally pinned Volpina down, but she still was fighting viciously. 

As she watched, a small vine wound around Chat Noir’s leg without him noticing, and slammed him against a building. Poison Ivy stalked towards him.

Moving swiftly, Bumble Bug summoned her Venom and dashed through the street, gracefully flipping and leaping past the flailing vines. She pegged the woman on the back right as she was about to... kiss Chat Noir? Ew. 

Chat Noir quickly slipped out if the now limp vines, breathing in relief. “Thanks ‘Bug.”

She nodded, and ran towards Viperion and Volpina. A few broken items lay scattered about, but there was no akuma. She helped him search, until she snapped one of her hair ties and a butterfly flew out. 

Bumble Bug caught the butterfly as a shimmering purple mass enveloped Volpina, then dissipated to reveal a confused-looking Lila.

“Oh no, did I get akumatized?” I am so sorry! I don't even remember what made me so upset in the first place,” she sniffed.

Bumble Bug bristled. “Lila, you know none of us believe-” she stopped as she heard her earrings beep. 

“Guess I don’t have time for this today. Ryuko, take her back down, and come back so I can take back the miraculous. Chat Noir, I need you to knock out Poison Ivy so she stays incapacitated after the Venom wears off. You two come with me so I can take back your miraculous inside, leave through the back so no one sees you. I’m going to cast my Miraculous Ladybug, and retransform to talk to Poison Ivy.”

Ryuko brusquely grabbed Lila around the waist and leapt of the building, deaf to the girl’s scream. 

Bumble Bug cast the cure and held her breath as she watched the little ladybugs swarm and fix all the damage. The way the Miraculous Cure worked was still mysterious, and she hadn’t been completely sure that a non-akuma’s damage would get fixed. She made a mental note to ask Tikki about it sometime, and headed inside the building with Viperion and Tiger Lily. 

Bumble Bug sent the heroes around a corner where they couldn’t see each other. Then she de-unified and detransformed. Digging in her bag, she gave each of the kwamis a macaroon, Tikki a chocolate one and Pollen a rose-flavored one. 

“I wondered why I was given a magnifying glass. I never had to use it,” Marinette reflected.

“Maybe it was more a metaphorical item,” Tikki suggested between munches. “Maybe you need to take a close look at something.” Marinette nodded.

The two miraculous boxes slid down the corridor to her. She carefully fitted them in her bag, and called a goodbye to the heroes as they left. 

Pollen finished her macaroon faster than Tikki did, and flew closer to Marinette. 

“Thank you my Lady for letting me be active. But may I ask, why haven’t you found a new holder yet? Is it true you are considering giving it back to Chloe at some point?”

Marinette studied the interest in Pollen’s blue eyes. “I’m not sure. Logic is telling me one thing, but my instincts are telling me something else. What do you think? You got to know Chloe well.”

Pollen hummed thoughtfully. “I think her actions were on the side of good, but her motives may have been misplaced. If Chloe can learn to fight for others, and not just herself, I would think she may become worthy of the bee miraculous again.”

“Thanks for the input Pollen. I’m glad you kwamis trust me.”

“You have proved yourself many times, Ladybug! You are truly a great wielder, and we kwamis are very lucky to be in your care.”

Tikki nodded fervently, and Marinette smiled. 

“And, my Lady, if I might add there is one way to eventually discover if Chloe’s intentions have genuinely changed.” Pollen buzzed up and down as she told Marinette her thoughts, and Marinette agreed that her idea could work. 

“Ok, I think it’s been long enough. Thank you Pollen!” 

Once she had retransformed and combined the miraculous again, Bumble Bug quickly made her way back outside to where Chat Noir, and now Ryuko stood by Poison Ivy, who was slumped over. 

As Bumble Bug approached, she wondered what could have possibly made Poison Ivy come all the way from Gotham and attack them. The fact that she was never akumatized also didn’t escape her. 

Then she remembered the lucky charm, and decided to take a close look at Poison Ivy.

When she moved the red hair from her neck, Bumble Bug noticed several tiny grey flowers around the back of her neck. Using her yoyo, she carefully scraped off all traces of the pale flowers. 

Her eyes snapped open. 

Immediately Bumble Bug wrapped her with yoyo wire, getting the top ready just in case. Ryuko held the point of her sword dangerously close to Poison Ivy’s neck.

The woman struggled against her bonds, looking around in all directions. She began speaking rapid fire in English, but Bumble Bug didn’t understand what she was saying. 

Chat Noir tilted his head. “She’s asking why she is Paris, how she got here, what happened here.”

Bumble Bug blinked. “You speak English?”

He nodded. “It’s been a while since I practiced fluently, but I learned English as a second language, before I started taking-” Ladybug was still sure she didn’t want to know his identity, and he didn’t know any other kids currently taking Mandarin lessons. 

“Tell her that she just attacked us. Ask her if she knows why.” Bumble Bug wanted to see her reaction. 

Chat Noir began speaking English to Poison Ivy, a little awkward with some of the American syllables at first, but smoothing out as he kept speaking. 

Poison Ivy spoke in return, still straining against the ropes, her eyes narrowed. She shook her head as she communicated a definitive  _ no _ .

“Yeah, she says she’s got no memory of how she got here, attacking us, no idea what could have wiped her memory.”

“Tell her about the flowers I found.” 

Hearing about the strange flowers gave the renowned botanist pause. She asked something that sounded like a question. 

Chat Noir turned to Bumble Bug. “Did your yoyo record any data about the flowers? She wants to see it.” 

Bumble Bug pulled out the yoyo head from the ropes holding Poison Ivy, careful not to untangle anything. She scrolled through the options displayed until she found a display for the sample she collected, set the words for English, and showed her. 

Poison Ivy’s eyes scanned back and forth as she perused the data. Finally, she shook her head and spoke a short phrase. 

Chat Noir frowned. “Hang on, let me make sure I translated that right.” He asked her something else, and she nodded, also giving a longer reply. 

“She says they’re not flowers, exactly. Something about not being special? Specialized? Said they remind her of something that I don’t know the English for…  _ protestations _ ?”

Poison Ivy shook her head again. “ _ Protists _ .”

“Yeah that. Don’t know what those are. But she said they’re not flowers, never seen them before.”

“Well,” Bumble Bug said slowly. “We Parisians know what its like to be controlled and have no memory of doing anything wrong. But we did just make an announcement saying we were cracking down on these kinds of things.” 

She beckoned over a special unit that she had handpicked for meta and other special non-akuma threats. They put a pair of dampener cuffs on POison Ivy’s wrists, before Bumble Bug undid her own bindings. 

“We promise you’ll get fair treatment, and try and deport you back to Gotham quicklyl.” Chat Noir relayed his leader’s words, but but the Green lady didn’t seem to care. She still struggled against the cuffs, as she was lead into a special truck. 

The last thing Bumble Bug saw of her were her emerald eyes glittering with anger. 

Bumble Bug sighed with relief that this was over for the moment. She very grateful this hadn’t blown up into a mess as bad as Scarlet Moth. 

A few loose ends bothered her, like Poison Ivy’s memory problems, or the strange occurrence of her non-akumitization. She would have thought Hawkmoth would love to weaponize Poison Ivy’s mutated genes. She had seen first hand how he could exponentially enhance someone who already had powers. 

Because of Hawkmoth, all the meta humans in Paris had either moved out, or kept quiet about their powers. Hawkmoth could only weaponize a meta-gene if he knew about it beforehand.

Hawkmoth and Mayura had both been active. But they hadn’t akumatized the most obvious person. Maybe the strange flower-like growths had something to do with it.

Bumble Bug was brought out of her thinking when Ryuko strode up to her, ready to relinquish her miraculous. She waved goodbye to Chat Noir, who ran off. Ryuko and herself ran a few blocks away, then ducked into an empty alley. Bumble Bug pulled off the comb in her hair, returning to Ladybug. Ryuko also took off her necklace, handing it to Ladybug. 

“Thank you again, Ladybug. It is always an honor to serve you.”

“It’s a real shame Hawkmoth knows your identity,” she told her friend. “You’re one of my most trusted wielders, I would trust you to hold the miraculous full time.”   
  


Kagami’s brown eyes blinked, stunned by the trust in her. “Thank you. Goodbye, Ladybug-san.”

With that, she ran out, leaving Ladybug to think of what her team could be. 

Permanent holders was something had thought of for a while, but it was extremely risky. Hawkmoth already knew many of the wielders identities. Tiger Lily was too close to Viperion, she might be discovered if Hawkmoth realized some people were holding on to their miraculous. She didn’t know Wagz well enough to give him one full time. 

As of now, Bunnyx was her best option, and maybe her best one because of the nature of her powers. She might have only seconds to react to a victory of Hawkmoth or someone else, and there were many reasons that Ladybug might not be able to get to her in time. 

The thing that held Ladybug back most was Bunnyx current inexperience, but then again, maybe giving her more time with the miraculous would give her more experience. Maybe she could even find older Bunny and ask her to help her Mini-self.

Ladybug resolved to ask Chat Noir about it soon; he was her main partner, and she trusted his thoughts. 

But first, she had to ask someone else for help. 

Once Ladybug had made it too a lone rooftop, she dialed for her American friend. 

Blue Beetle answered quickly. “Hey kiddo! I saw the news, you clean up everything ok?”

“Yeah, we now have Poison Ivy in custody. I want to get her out of Paris as soon as possible, before she can be akumatized. And… I was thinking it might be helpful if people who knew her well came to help with the process. And help us well.”   
  


“That’s great! I think I know the perfect person to help you. His name is Red Robin. He’s a partner of Batman, and let’s just say he has a certain  _ knack  _ for finding out secret identities. If anyone can help with Hawkmoth, it’s him. I’ll try and set up a meeting between you and Batman as soon as I can, if that’s good with you.”

Ladybug nodded. For the first time in a long time, she felt excited. Even hopeful. 

Hopefully this wouldn’t end in disaster. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally going to introduce a main character next chapter, because even I'm starting to wonder where Damian is now. Please Kudos and comment, I also answer questions if you guys have some! <3  
> Also for the intense DC fans who might see what I'm beginning to do, please don't spoil, but feel free to let me know because it means I'm setting up plot right. Hopefully.


	6. The Fifth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian tries his best to not go to Paris. Also sass and humor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As weird as it sounds to me, I think some people actually enjoy reading my writing. So I feel a need to apologize for not having an update in a while. Finals week had me stressed with a paper and a presentation, with more studying for later. Plus before I started working on this chapter, I wanted to write a chapter for a different work.  
> But, I am done, de-stressing, and have written another chapter. So please, enjoy!

“Robin. Behind you.”

The current Robin, Damian Wayne, bit back a harsh reply as he backflipped up, and thrusted his katana down and through the shoulder of the Talon that had failed to sneak up behind him. He had known the assassin was there, of course.

Robin pulled back his katana and struck the Talon in his temple with the pommel of his sword, removing him from combat.

The last Talon slumped to the ground, as Batman released his chokehold. 

Batman opened up his channel to Alfred. “Notify Blackgate Penitentiary. Tell them to prepare their cryo chambers. Also tell Gordon to send one of the meta-level trucks to pick the Talons up.”

Damian took out a cloth and began to wash the blood from his blade. “Batman,” he questioned, “why alert me to a problem I was already aware of?”

“Because not even you are immune to a sword between your ribs.” 

A few years ago, that tone of voice would have been scolding and frustrated. Now, it was teasing, but with the faintest hint of worry. 

His death, by sword, arrows, and fists, had not been pleasant. But that was many years ago. He was over it. 

And if level of skill was so low that a mere Talon could kill him, he would gladly welcome death in shame. 

A few years ago, he would have retorted harshly, using his words as a sharp weapon. Now, he let himself be content with his father’s concern mixed with amusement. 

“We need to get back to the cave.”

Robin arched an eyebrow. “It’s barely midnight.”

“I’ve called some of the others. Blue Beetle called me about a situation in Paris. A hero there wants to contact me through him tomorrow. I’m briefing the rest of you.”

Robin kept his face under complete control. Bus his innards twisted at the mention of Paris.

He had sworn to not visit Paris under any circumstances, because unbeknownst to anyone else, he had a soulmate. And he knew she lived in Paris. 

There was nothing he had specifically against soulmates. But the universe must have screwed up when it decided to pair him with a painfully typical girl. He had only had two soulmate dream so far, since his birthday two months ago, but what he had learned about his soulmate was:

She liked pink.

She liked fashion.

She liked her family.

She liked another boy.

Robin was not in the slightest bit jealous. Instead, he hoped that they “ended up together,” so that the girl, who must have had dreams of him and in all likelihood knew he was Robin, would forget about him entirely. 

He realized he probably should have told his father about his soulmate. But he had carefully monitored the situation himself. The girl, Marinette as he had seen her sign her name, never tried to communicate with him as either Robin or Damian Wayne. So he decided she was likely not interested in him. 

Maybe she thought it was a mistake too. Maybe she wondered who am I to deserve him?

Perhaps it was the strange circumstances of his birth. The universe, in a panic that he was suddenly going to exist in a very unconventional way, paired him with the first nice girl it could find. 

So. He never went to Paris. And he never would, as long as the girl was there. 

“Understood. I shall get there first.”

Robin swallowed, suddenly noticing his mouth was dry. Then he activated his grappling hook and swung away to a meeting he was planning on dismissing as soon as possible. 

When Robin got to the cave, Batman was already there. Red Robin was at the computer, working on setting up communications. Nightwing was flipping around a gym bar so quickly Robin wondered how he did not get dizzy.

Robin decided he would not say anything at this meeting, if could at all help it. Silence was not a stranger to him, and he was currently in the presence of the top detectives of the world. He would not want to inadvertently give anything away. 

The screen flashed, and Blue Beetle, Red Hood, and Oracle appeared.

“Hello Blue Beetle. I’ve linked in some of the others, as you requested.”

“Thanks, Bats.”

Blue Beetle filled them in on the situation, while Robin half-listened. A time ago Batman had told them under no circumstances they were to go to Paris, because a magical terrorist had appeared, who was highly manipulative and could turn those with volatile emotions into his own super-powered pawns. Wonder Woman herself apparently had a connection to the heroes fighting him, and had told the league that any hero who went to Paris would face her wrath.

Apparently Blue Beetle had met Ladybug when the barely competent Booster Gold had gotten himself “akumatized.” They had struck up a correspondence, and after Poison Ivy had shown up in Paris, she had asked for help in getting her back to Gotham safely, and more.

Poison Ivy’s appearance was the only part that interested him. After supposedly turning over a “new leaf,” and had turned away from typical crime and into the occasional eco-terrorism. She was low on the current list of priorities.

Robin couldn’t see how going to Paris and attacking heroes could fit anywhere on her agenda. Perhaps there was more to this. Something worthwhile. 

“And she’s finally agreed to get some experienced help. I think she’s somewhere around Robin’s age, and for the most part she’s had to learn how to do this herself. She has a partner, and friends she can call on, but she’s had no one with experience to help her.”

“So you gave our help to her already.”

Blue Beetle Chuckled and rubbed his head. “Well, I told her one of the world’s greatest detectives could probably help her. No one knows the terorrist’s identity.”

“Then I’m sure Red Robin would be perfectly suited.”

“Yeah, that’s actually where I was going.”

Red Robin smirked.

“No offense Bats, but this villain uses emotions to target and manipulate people. And we all know how brooding you can get. Not to say that you couldn’t resist the guy. But worst case, if given superpowers and a grudge it would probably take you about ten minutes to level Paris. And also Red Robin is a pretty stable guy as far as Robins, uh...”

Red Hood clicked his tongue. “Sleep tight tonight, Teddy.”

“How- never mind, you don’t know where I am.”

“I could find out. Easily. And beside, Red Robin is only stable if you don’t throw any good-looking and self-sufficient woman in his general vicinity.”

Red Robin’s face turned almost as red as his suit.

“Hood. Enough. I agree with your assessment Blue Beetle. But if what you said is true, and one of us could be compromised, I want someone else to go with Red Robin. Nightwing? You speak fluent French.”

“Sorry Batman, but I don’t want to be away from home or Oracle too long.” He got a love-sick look in his eyes as he looked at his wife.

“Red Hood. No.”

“But-”

“No.”

Eyes turned towards Robin, and it took all of his acting lessons to not tense his muscles and keep his breathing even. 

“Robin, you speak French, correct?”

“I am very out of practice. And busy.” 

Eyes turned towards him.

Red Robin made sure Blue Beetle couldn’t here them.

Red Hood laughed. “Ok, Robin. That was an obvious deflection. There a reason?”

Robin let his eyes shift leftward, an apparent sign of uneasiness. He hated to play this card, hate to attempt to invoke pity, but if he wanted to avoid Paris, there might be no other way. “I have some… unpleasant memories of Paris from when I was with Mother.”

Did he feel guilty for the deception? A little. But he knew his family too well. The moment they found out he had a soulmate they would send him to Paris and not let him back until they had met.

His words had different effects on his family. 

Nightwing’s facial expression softened. He would probably be on his side the most. 

Oracle looked at him with an expression similar to that of her husband. Of course the two would be on the same side. 

Red Hood’s expression was impossible to see under his helmet, but in all likelihood he would either be all for sending him to Paris to “get over it,” or not care at all. Not the most helpful.

Batman didn’t shift at all, but Robin knew him well enough. He would try and find someone else to accompany Red Robin, but send him anyways if he became the best choice. 

Red Robin, as much as he hated to admit it, was better at understanding and predicting human behavior than he was. Than most people were. He was keeping his face impressively blank, an expression that Robin knew well enough. 

His subterfuge had not succeeded. Robin only hoped he would pry privately. 

Batman turned to face Blue Beetle again, unmuting himself. 

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Red Robin, accompanied by someone else I trust, will go to Paris.”

“That’s great! Here’s a way for you contact her.”

Blue Beetle sent over the information. Red Robin took one look and began typing furiously. “What kind of encryption is this? I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost like it’s a different kind of coding altogether.”

“It’s magic. All of it is, everything they do is powered by some ancient kind of magic.”

Tt. Magic. So many people were afraid of it, afraid of its power and unpredictability. But he understood it well. There were exactly two words that summed up the power of magic: balance, and risk. Either you gave a trade for the power, or risked a loss for it.

Not too hard to understand.

Batman nodded. “Understood. I will contact her tomorrow.”

“Oh, and be careful. She has dark hair and blue eyes.”

With a grin, Blue Beetle left the chat.

Nightwing chuckled. “Alfred, you better prepare another room.” 

“Nightwing, I don’t adopt every dark-haired blue-eyed child I meet.”

“I’m afraid Master Bruce is correct,” Alfred pointed out. “Master Damian has green eyes.”

Nightwing and Red Hood cackled, while Red Robin barely suppressed his laughter.

Robin made a quiet egress. But he could feel a pair of eyes on his back.

Changing out of his uniform into something more comfortable, Damian headed to the hologram room. He activated the settings to one of the highest levels of difficulties. He wanted to be distracted. He wanted something to completely take his focus.

So he concentrated on dodging the imitation projectiles coming from every direction. It was, as some of his brothers had described “a bullet hell.” The room would notify him if he was hit. He doubted the need, though. 

At some point in the exercise, the door opened. Startled, Damian’s muscles tightened as he landed on the floor, and stumbled forward. The alarms began to blare as each fictitious blade and bullet hit his body. 

Damian glared at Tim. “I was busy.”

“I can see that. That’s a higher level than even Bruce usually uses.”

“I’m training.”

“No you’re not.”

Damian clenched his teeth. “Yes I am.”

Tim drummed his fingers against the wall. “You know,” he said slowly. “If there was a place that, for some reason, I really didn’t want to go but at the same time I didn’t want to tell anyone, you know what I would do?”

Damian was very close to shutting the doors on Tim. But Tim had the most superior computer skills of anyone in the family. There was not a place he could hide from him. 

So as much as he hated it, he played along with Tim’s mind games. “What would you do?”

“Well, I would still probably tell Dick about it. Maybe Alfred if it was really bothering me. But you? You would find an ambiguous lie that people would be focusing on their own reaction, instead of wondering if you even were telling the truth. Because we trust you to do so, but you still don’t completely trust us.”

His clenched hands almost dislocated his thumbs. 

“Damian, you’re not that same kid who nearly tried to kill me out of insecurity. I don’t think anyone needs to tell ou to not be like him anymore either. You’ve grown a lot. You’re sixteen now. If you tell me to butt out and let you handle you’re own business I absolutely will.”

There was a feeling in Damian’s chest. One he did not feel until being with his father for at least a year. It dragged near his heart like a dying animal. He did not think he would feel it now.

Guilt.

But there was something else, something he did not quite have a name for. Something that whispered, this isn’t about them. They don’t need to know.

He had to be in control. He would lose all control if he let this be known. 

Damian turned his back to Tim.

“Ok then. Good luck.” Footsteps slowly padded away from the door.

Then they paused. “You’re sixteen now… Damian, did you ever have a soulmate dream?”

Tell him.

No.

“No.”

Tim didn’t answer again. He just left.

Damian closed the door behind him. That too close for his own comfort. Tim had his own soulmate problems. He especially would be all for making Damian go to Paris to meet his own soulmate.

But his mind was made up. As long as he lived, he promised he would never find Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I just love writing sass and humor. And Tim. And just the Bat-family in general. And Tim.
> 
> Please kudos 'n' comment!
> 
> Also, for people who speak English but don't live in America, saying "I plead the fifth" means you're not saying anything so you don't make yourself look bad in some way. 
> 
> Also Damian's the fifth Robin. Yes I'm counting Stephanie. Though this technically takes place post-52. For my fellow DC fans. There is going to be a lot of DC rich mythos here.


	7. As Much as They Hated It...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's exhausted.
> 
> Damian is bored and nervous about his inevitable meeting with his soulmate.
> 
> Adrien has a photoshoot with Lila that leaves him more confused than he's ever been in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many things:
> 
> First, had to get past some writers block here. Also didn't proofread, so sorry for errors.
> 
> Second, to clarify, Damian know Marinette is his soulmate, but Marinette only knows about Robin and doesn't know that's Damian. Because Damian is still alive, and Robin isn't. And although she's seen some other people that she doesn't really recognize, she's never connected them to Damian, also because the soulmate magic has been convenient for plot and drama. 
> 
> Third. Lila's a manipulative piece of &*!#.
> 
> Have fun with 3 whole POV!

Marinette woke to an insistent nudging on her shoulder. As she blinked awake, she realized her phone was blaring the akuma alert. 

“Wake up Marinette! You have to wake up!”

Marinette tried to get up, but her body and mind were so fatigued she couldn’t even move. 

“Hrrm.” She tried to tell Tikki to leave her alone, to let her sleep. 

“Come on Marinette. Say the words. You’ll feel better. Spots on Marinette!”

“Spots?”

“Yes Marinette, you can do it!”

“Spots on…”

A brilliant red and pink light enveloped her, and she transformed into Ladybug. 

She felt the urge to laugh out loud. What would her parents think if they came in, saw Ladybug all tucked in where there daughter should be. Ladybug, the protector of Paris, feeling more protected from the world by her blankets than she thought she could ever do for an entire city.

Then Ladybug sighed, and threw off her covers. She had a job to do. 

And she was going to do it.

Thanks to the way Pegasus helped connect their magical devices (and therefore their phones as well), she got an exact GPS reading of the first person who triggered the alarm. 

She stared at the address. She knew that address, it was… Nino’s house? 

No, Nino could  _ not _ be akumatized. Even though her transformation gave her an energy boost, she did not have the strength to fight someone who had the experience and strength of a miraculous user. 

She grabbed the turtle miraculous, because Nino was absolutely  _ not _ akumatized. 

As Ladybug came within sight of Nino’s house, she groaned. There was chaos everywhere, and how could she, a video game aficionado, not recognize the video game characters that were on a rampage?

It was an attack of the Super Smash Bros.

A familiar voice shouted “Look out!”, and Chat Noir was there, blocking an arrow headed straight for her. 

Ladybug reached around him and hurled her yoyo at a nearby Pit, and slung him to the ground. 

“Thanks Chat.”

“Anytime Ladybug! My timing is purrfect as usual.”

“Do you know who the Mark is?”

“No, but I saw a commotion at Nino’s house.”

Ladybug gritted her teeth. Nino was not akumatized.

“Ok, I’m going to go there and see if I can find Nino. I’ve brought the turtle miraculous. He might know who the Mark is.”

Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. “Be careful Ladybug, Hawkmoth is probably expecting that.”

“I know, but no one else is close, or awake.”

With that, she swan dived off the roof and and into the chaos. 

Relaxing her mind, Ladybug let her muscle memory combine with her hours and hours of video game experience to get through the gauntlet. She dodged the fierce flames of Charizard, sidestepped the shell smash of Bowser, and leapt over the whirling winds of Kirby. 

Suddenly she was at Nino’s house. The lights were off inside. 

Ladybug scaled a side wall to an open window. She ripped the screen and slid inside. 

An eerie silence permeated the house. But there was a faint rustling, at the very edge of her hearing. Downstairs. She crept down the stairs, her yoyo in hand.

Maybe she should have brought Chat Noir with her. She couldn’t see a thing. 

Ladybug wasn’t totally helpless though. She slid her yoyo open, blinking at the bright light. A few taps on the screen, and she was able to activate the night vision mode. When she put the yoyo over her right eye she could see through it. 

Following the source of the rustling sound, she finally found Nino, struggling against ropes tying him to his kitchen table. 

“Nino, it’s Ladybug. I’m going to free you.”

“Dudette watch out! It’s a trap!”

Immediately something struck her in the back and knocked her across the room. She sprung up and felt her back.

It was dripping wet. 

Ladybug’s heart skipped a beat. Was it blood? Was she bleeding that badly? She rubbed her fingers together, feeling the liquid. 

No, it couldn’t be blood. It was too thin, and cold besides. 

She had been in Nino’s house before. She knew this layout. All she needed was a little luck.

And luck was always on her side. 

She tossed her yoyo where she knew the light switch was. The lights blinked on just in time to see a thin figure rushing at her for another attack. 

Jumping past, Ladybug threw her yoyo to entangle what she now saw as a Greninja. But it was fast and agile, and slipped past the wire, backflipped against the wall, and extended one of it’s three-toed feet at her face and it flew towards her. 

At the perfect moment, Ladybug jerked on her yoyo back in and smacked the Greninja on its head. It faltered, cartoon stars dancing around its head.

Ladybug immediately launched into a combo of moves. At her final blow, her opponent blasted through the back door to who knows where. 

“So cool dudette.”

RIght, Nino. She quickly pulled apart the knot binding the ropes and freed him.

“Ladybug, it’s Chris. My mom caught him sneaking down to the tv to play video games, and he got, like, super upset when she grounded him. Then he got akumatized and brought the video game to life. Hawkmoth told him to keep me here in case you tried to give me the turtle miraculous again.”

Dang it. This was just the kind of thing she worried about, giving miraculous to holders that Hawkmoth already knew. She tried justifying it by reasoning that with so many holders, Hawkmoth couldn’t guard all of them, and couldn’t guess with certainty who she go to for help. 

But this time it was too easy, and if this had been a bigger trap she might not have been able to escape. She cursed herself inwardly for being so stupid. 

“Well, as much as I hate to admit it, Hawkmoth was right this time. I do have the turtle miraculous for you to use. But I don’t know if circumstances will be right for me to give it to you another time, Nino.”

He shrugged. “That’s alright by me dudette. I’m glad to try to help you any time I can.”

Nino transformed into Carapace, and they left the house in search for Chris. 

They found Chat Noir using all of his agility to dodge a flurry of attacks from a bunch of long distance fighters, skillfully making them hit each other instead of him. 

“Hey Ladybug, Cara- hah, you thought you had me! Carapace. So good news, it’s just like the game! Knock them out three times and they’re gone  _ fur _ good.”

The three fought all of the characters for hours, until they finally found Super Smash King and defeated him. With only an hour before sunrise, they all parted ways to get as much sleep as they could.

Ten minutes after Marinette was supposed to get up, Thomas had to go in her room and gently shake his little girl awake. 

But when she fell asleep again later, nearly drowning in her cereal, Thomas and Sabine looked at each other. Without words, they decided their daughter needed sleep at the moment more than she needed to go to school. So Thomas scooped up Marinette in his arms, and went upstairs to tuck her back into her bed. Sabine phoned the school to tell them her daughter would not be attending school that day.

  
  


At the school, Caline Bustier put down the phone. 

“Class, that was the school office. Marinette will not be coming today, she is not feeling well.”

Murmurs went all around the room.

“Aw, I hope Marinette gets better soon!”

“It’s a good thing she isn’t here, she might get us all sick.”

“Guess she won’t meet the new kid today.”

A couple of people turned to stare at the American (and Middle Eastern?) teen who had so suddenly joined their class. Some had heard of him, as he was apparently a the son of a famous billionaire in America. He had come for a prestigious fencing tournament, taking place in about a month. 

His name was Damian Wayne, and he was not happy.

The only thing that kept him from being absolutely furious that he had been sent here against his will was the overhanging threat of “akumatization.”

Father, before sending him off to a country that he had clearly not wanted to visit, had told him that he trusted him to be able to control his emotions, and that the sooner he could finish this mission the sooner he could come back to Gotham. And also try not to be too good at fencing.

Jason had texted him that he had a bet with Dick on whether or not he or Tim would get akumatized first. Perhaps a ploy appealing to his competitive nature so to control himself better.

Perhaps not.

The only blond boy of the class had come up to him at the beginning of the class, introducing himself as Adrien Agreste, a fellow competitor in the competition. Damian was already aware, as he had done extensive research on this class. 

Which is how he knew, that of all the French schools he could have been put into, he was going to be in the same as his so called “soulmate.”

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The very girl he had sworn to avoid, and now he was going to be in the same class as her. 

He wasn’t entirely sure that she would recognize him as her soulmate. But if she did, he had a plan. Tell her that her life would be terrible with him, and she would be happy without him. 

That would hopefully work. From what he observed of Dick’s many girlfriends, Jason’s whatever he had with Artemis, and ignoring Tim’s mess of a love life, he thought that people got together to be happy, and if he didn’t make her happy she wouldn’t want to be with him.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to go through this today. Marinette was not here. And after school, he and Tim would be meeting with Ladybug under their other identities to discuss tactics. 

“Damian!’

He quickly rewound his auditory memories, and answered the question Ms. Bustier had asked. An easy question, what year was the Statue of Liberty sent to America. 

“Wow Damian, you’re really smart. And your French is so good!” 

Without looking down, Damian recognized the voice. Lila Rossi. From observations, she seemed popular with the class. From both her file and her accent he knew she was Italian, the daughter of an ambassador.

“Thank you,” he said without color in his voice. 

This was boring. He likely knew more about French history than the teacher herself. 

Shifting his eyes to the paper of the red-headed boy next to him, Damian noticed he had his notebook set aside, and was instead drawing careful lines in a sketchbook. 

Were they allowed to do this? Drawing would surely be preferable to this boredom. Not needing to turn the page because he hadn’t taken any notes, he began sketching a fencing foil with an ornate guard. 

“You’re good,” the boy, Nathaniel, whispered as he watched Damian carve out tiny details of the sword with his pen. 

“Thank you. You appear to be ‘good’ as well.”

Nathaniel nodded, and both boys sketched silently for the rest of the class.

When all the students left at the end of school, Adrien Agreste eyed his new opponent for the fencing tournament. He really wanted to win, and he was already evenly matched with Kagami. If this kid had come all the way from America to join, he probably was highly skilled. 

Not that he didn’t enjoy a good challenge. 

Adrien mentally went over his schedule. First he had a photoshoot, then fencing practice, and then sneaking out of his room to meet with Ladybug and the two heroes who had come from America to help. 

For the first time in a while, he was hopeful that Hawkmoth would be stopped soon. He was always confident that he and Ladybug would defeat him eventually, but now he was excited at the close possibility of a future without Hawkmoth. 

When Gorilla pulled up to the park, Adrien’s heart sank as he realized Lila was also there. He didn’t to spend a second more with her than he had to, but apparently he had to. The same ugly anticipation sat in Adrien’s gut, but he relaxed as he remembered the feeling went away as soon as he started the photoshoot. 

“Hi Adrien!” Lila gushed. “I’m so glad I get to do this with you today!”

She pouted as he refused to meet her eyes. 

“Come on Adrien, let’s have some fun.” She reached forward to grab his hand, but he pulled away. 

“Adrien.” Lila blinked. “Haven’t I been a good girl? Don’t good girls get rewarded?”   
  


Hearing this, Adrien loosened up and allowed her to take his hand. She was right, she hadn’t tried to get Marinette expelled again. And Lila had been very peaceful today, with Marinette not at school.

So, Adrien tried to make the hour pass by enjoying it. He smiled for the camera as his photographer tried to pose them in every cute way possible.

Though by the end of the shoot, some loose thoughts stirred in Adrien’s head. He shrugged away from Lila’s touch again.

“Lila, could you please stop hurting Marinette? I know she’s still not happy when she’s around you, and she’s my friend. I want her to be happy, and I want you to be happy without bothering her.”

“Adrien,” Lila sniffled, “I’m hurt. I haven’t been harming Marinette. She’s been hurting herself, you know how clumsy and creative she can be. I’m sure she’s imagining a lot of my problems with her, or maybe it’s me, I moved so much when I was a kid I never really learned a lot of social cues and skills kids our age have.”

“No,” Adrien insisted. “She’s my friend, a very good friend. And you-”

“Well, has been telling you about me ‘hurting her’?” 

Adrien frowned. “Well, no, not in a while, but-”

“And she hasn’t said anything in class.”

“Lila-”

“And Adrien, I know I can’t possibly be doing anything bad against her. Because you, Adrien Agreste, are such a good person, if I had been hurting her before this, and continually, well you would have told me, or stopped me!”

Adrien stopped cold. Suddenly he felt guilt rising up in him like bile. 

He would have stopped Lila, right? If Lila had kept actively going against Marinette? Or he should be able to notice that. He was a good person, right?

And Marinette, he thought he was good friends with her. If anything kept happening, she would have told him, confiding in him, right.

He remembered his own voice. 

_ She’s not hurting anyone. _

Was that true? If it was, then what kind of friend was he to Marinette? And if Lila hadn’t been hunting her, then why was Marinette so unhappy? And why had he been angry at Lila.

Crap. 

Adrien didn’t know what to think. He took a step backwards, overwhelmed by his own thoughts, and tripped. He didn’t immediately get up.

Lila grabbed his hand and tugged at him until he was upright, then embraced him in a warm hug. 

And as much as his mind was still whirring, and as much as he wanted his skin to crawl in revulsion, it didn’t.

As much as he wanted to hate it, he had to admit to some deep part of himself.

It felt nice.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Damian, and Marinette, but mostly poor Adrien! That Lila's a real piece of work!
> 
> Please kudos and comment because I love em. And also I respond to all comments and questions!


	8. Cats, Bats, and Rats, Birds and Ladybug Included

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir meet with Red Robin and Robin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah its been a while! Many things are keeping me busy, like graduation stuff, applications, and online school, but I promise I'm not even close to being done!  
> Congratulations to all those who have graduated!  
> Here's another chapter for you, my lovely and wonderful readers.

Marinette had been awake for a while. She wasn’t doing anything, just staring at the patterns of the sunshine streaming through her window. Tikki watched with her, keeping an eye on the clock.

Finally, Tikki shook herself from the peaceful stupor of the room. “Marinette, you’re supposed to meet those heroes in half an hour,” she reminded.

Marinette didn’t speak, but took another second to look at the window. Then she nodded, and went downstairs to talk to her parents. 

“Mama, Papa,” she greeted them with a hug. “Thank you for letting me sleep more today, I really needed it.”

“Of course sweetie.” Her father dusted some flour off her shoulder. 

“Marinette, did you have another soulmate dream last night?” her mother asked. 

Actually, she had. And it had been a strange one. She saw her soulmate as a tiny baby in some kind of glass chamber, while a woman Marinette assumed was his mother looked tenderly on. 

But neither of them were in a hospital. 

“Yeah, I did. But I’m feeling much better now! I think I’m going to go on a walk and get some sun and inspiration.”

Her father called after her as she went out the door. “And if you see any Marks,-

-get away quickly!”

“Strike them quickly in the face”

Marinette chuckled as the door closed, cutting off the sound of her parents discussing the best way to deal with someone who had been akumatized. Her father wanted her to be safe, and well, her mother thought offense was the best defense. 

Marinette had considered giving her mother a miraculous many times, with her penchant for martial arts that she had tried to teach Marinette when she was little, and occasionally showed her now. But she didn’t want to risk people wondering why was this the only adult who had been given a miraculous. 

Also, she didn’t want to see her mother hurt in the same ways she had watched Chat Noir be over and over again. 

As soon as she found an isolated spot, Marinette transformed into Ladybug, and headed off to the meeting she and her partner had set up. 

Ladybug swung her way to the roof of the TVi studio, where Chat Noir was already waiting for her. He was sitting on the floor, the tip of his leather tail twitching. He started as Ladybug landed, and put on a smile.

“Hi Ladybug.”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. “You ok Chat Noir? You’re usually on the tips of your toes, not on the ground.”

He grinned lopsidedly. “I’m fine. Just thinking about something someone said to me earlier today.”

Chat Noir shook himself, then gave Ladybug a more genuine smile. “Nevermind that. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

Chat Noir grinned.Ladybug noticed his sharp canines poked over his bottom lip a little. “Oh, have you figured out who your soulmate is yet? Did you figure out which state in America they live in?”

Right. This was another way she kept Marinette and Ladybug separate. Marinette’s closest friends and family knew her soulmate had died. Ladybug told Chat Noir she had a soulmate somewhere in America, and maybe she could find them when their fight was done.

Funny thing was, after she told her partner she had a soulmate, he had finally stopped flirting with her, stopped calling her M’Lady. But their friendship had only grown stronger as they fought to protect the city and her people that they both loved. 

“Uh, nope! No new information on them. What about you? Have you had a soulmate dream.”

He shook his head, his cat ears flopping a little from the motion. “Well, I did turn sixteen, but I never had a soulmate dream. So I guess it’s up to me to find true love!” He put his hand over his forehead in a dramatic flourish. Ladybug chortled.

“Hope we aren’t interrupting anything.”

Ladybug instantly whipped out her yoyo. Chat Noir jumped six feet (twoish meters) in the air, landing with his staff out. His tail stuck out like an exclamation point.

Red Robin and Robin stood behind them. 

Ladybug slowly put her away her yoyo, but Chat Noir kept his staff in his hand. “You sure we can trust them Ladybug? That one looks like a grumpy cat,” he whispered to Ladybug.

Robin bristled a little, evidently having excellent hearing. 

Ladybug took on Robin’s stare. “He has a point. You don’t look happy to be here, and you didn’t look happy when Batman told me you would be coming as well.”

Red Robin patted his communicator. “Don’t worry Ladybug, I’ve got multiple contingencies. And Robin can control himself."

“Ok,” Ladybug agreed cautiously. If these two were good enough for Blue Beetle they would have to be good for her. 

She offered her hand to Red Robin. He shook it, his hand firm. She looked at the white lenses that hid his eyes. She was certain that behind them, his eyes were taking in everything they could about her; observing how she reacted to their sudden appearance, the way she was standing upright and confident. He tightened his grip, testing her strength. She did the same to him.

He grinned and released her hand. She had a feeling she had passed some unspoken test. 

Ladybug turned to the other Gotham vigilante and proffered her hand to him as well. Behind her, she heard Chat Noir pad up to Red Robin. 

Unlike with Red Robin, there was no kind of examination. He gave her hand a single, strong squeeze, then pulled away. His hand rested on the hilt of what looked to be some sort of sword. 

“So. Here is what we really need aid in.” She turned back to Red Robin. “One of the reasons we haven't been able to defeat Hawkmoth is he rarely comes out in public. Wherever he hides out, he sends out akumas from there and directs his Marks without needing to see him. The only times he’s come into public is when he comes up with a massive plot that usually ends ups affecting at least half of Paris.”

Ladybug tapped the screen of her yoyo a few times, which Red Robin watched with great interest. “I hope you’ll let me look at the programming of that sometime. I’d love to be able to implement some of the programming I saw into my own systems.”

Turning the screen around so Red Robin and Robin could see footage of Hawkmoth. 

“With the powers of our miraculous and a little luck, we’ve been able to defeat Hawkmoth whenever he’s come out of hiding. So we’re confident that if we could find him, we could overwhelm him and stop this.”

Robin interjected, the domino mask raising a little on one side of his face as he arched an eyebrow. “A little luck isn’t something to rely on when fighting a war.”

A war. That’s exactly what they were fighting, wasn’t it? 

“And normally, I would agree with you. But I use the miraculous of the Ladybug. I can count on luck being on my side.”

“She’s our very own Lady Luck,” Chat Noir said. “And I’m bad luck-- for my enemies.” He wiggled his eyebrows like a little wave, and Ladybug felt the corners of her mouth tugging upwards.

“The problem is, we haven’t been able to figure out who he is. And the magic of the miraculous will obscure his identity to anyone who isn’t protected by similar magic.”

Ladybug looked over at her partner, who nodded, supporting the decision she had made earlier. She slipped her fingers into her yoyo. Red Robin stared intently at the work of magic. Robin looked interested as well, maybe wondering if his sword would fit in the space. 

She pulled out a thumb ring, with a red gold band and a head that looked like three curls. It gave off a golden glint in the sun

There was another miraculous kept in her yoyo, but she didn’t want to pull that one out yet. 

She held it out in the palm of her hand, and Orikko appeared in a flash of golden and auburn light. 

“Hello,” he chirped. “I’m Orikko! You must be the new weider Ladybug told me about. I hope I can help you take down Hawkmoth!

Red Robin stared curiously at the floating bird-like creature, then smiled. He held out his hand to receive the miraculous, but Ladybug curled her fingers over it.

“I need you to understand,” she said, “that I’m taking a risk here. I trust Blue Beetle, and he told me you could be trusted. But the truth is I don’t know you, and before I give you this I need you both to promise a few things.”

Robin shifted his position slightly. “Both of us?”

“If you both are going to help, then I need you both to promise.”

Chat Noir’s tail flicked. “If you’re both going to help us, you’re both going to need to listen to us. Otherwise,” he grinned, “we’ll have to send you back to Gotham.”

Robin huffed. “We have experience in fighting and espionage, more than you do. You should let us do we do best.”

Ladybug internally winced. She had a feeling these two weren’t going to get along well. 

“That’s the plan.” She tried to smooth them down. “But we just need you to agree on a few things.“

“Robin, don’t forget we’re guests here. I’m sure Ladybug’s requests will be reasonable.”

“First, if at any point you begin to feel negative emotions, you need to either calm yourself down immediately, or use whatever contigencencies you have planned. Get out of Paris if possible.”   
  


“Second, I know you tend search for trouble in Gotham, but you can’t do that here. Our police can handle typical crime, it’s up to us to fight Hawkmoth. And no matter what, you can’t go around dressed as Red Robin and Robin, or Hawkmoth might try to target you. Or you might cause akumas or amoks from people who remember the last time a superhero was in town.”

Robin snorted. “Trust me, we’re a lot more competent than Booster Gold.”

Chat Noir glanced sourly at Robin. “Rule number three: always listen to Ladybug and I. You have experience with fighting crime, but we have experience fighting Marks, Hawkmoth and Mayura. So whatever either of says, goes. Got it Birdy-Boy?”

Robin’s eyes narrowed. “What did you just call me.” The lack of anger in his voice made Ladybug both uneasy and satisfied. 

“Chat Noir, the idea is to not try and upset people.” She rolled her eyes.

One of Chat Noir’s ears twitched. “Sure.”

Ladybug tried to ignore the glances Robin and Chat Noir were giving each other, and continued.

“Ok, the last thing is probably the most important.” She opened her hand again, letting the rooster miraculous shine in the light again. “These miraculouses are very important. Each one has a kwami like Orikko here,” she nodded towards the kwami that was patiently hovering nearby, “connected to it. Using a miraculous grants you the ability to draw on the kwami’s magic and transform yourself into a superhero.”

“So no matter what happens, you must both keep your identities secret and the miraculous safe. If you don’t, it could be an utter disaster that Hawkmoth would be sure to use for his own good, like he’s using the kwami’s he’s enslaved.”

Ladybug’s hand tightened around her yoyo. She absolutely hated the idea that somewhere out there was Nooroo and Duusu, being kept against their will and forced to hurt others. One of the first things she was planning once Hawkmoth was defeated was helping the kwamis until they felt safe again. 

Then she could really begin her job as Guardian. 

Red Robin smiled gently. “I promise Ladybug. We’re going to help you, and free Paris.” 

Robin didn’t vocally agree, but gave a sharp nod. 

Ladybug let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She handed the ring to Red Robin.

“Red Robin, this is the miraculous of the rooster, which grants the power of Intention. You’ll use--”

An explosion rocked the building and sent all the heroes stumbling. 

A quick look at Red Robin showed that he was clutching the ring in his hand. He quickly slipped it on his thumb.

“I thought we’d have more time!” Ladybug shouted over the sound of more explosions and buildings crumbling to pieces.

“Crash course!” Chat Noir whooped, and promptly swan dived off the building. The sound of explosions began to slowly quiet over the next few minutes as Chat Noir leapt into action. 

“Ok, transformation phrase is Sunrise! Your weapon should have a panel that will explain your powers. The goal is to find an item the Mark or Sentimonster is holding, and break it. Then I can purify the akuma or amok and fix everything and heal everyone!”

Red Robin shouted the words, and Orikko flew into the ring. A red light traveled across his body as he transformed.

To Ladybug’s relief, the costume the Gotham vigilante now wore wasn’t too similar to the the Red Robin suit, though the color hues were interestingly the exact same.

  
  
  


Ladybug first noticed the feathers. A sheet of them ran from each shoulder to a buckle at either side of his waist, then ran down to his knees and covered the outside of his calves. Buckles similar to the ones on his front were on his gloves.

His mask now had little pieces that went down the sides of his face. Ladybug could now see his eyes, a startling steel-blue that contrasted with the red and black of his suit. His hair, now streaked with red, gently brushed against the sides of the mask. The Red Robin emblem had been replaced with that of the rooster miraculous, connected to a sort of utility belt that slung over his right shoulder and held a quiver of arrows with red feather. His boots each had a dark red spur in front of the toes. A simple but gleaming recurve bow was in his left hand. The rest of his suit spoke of leather and protection. 

Red Robin examined himself, a broad grin on his face. “Interesting. Is the suit connected to my psyche magically? Because this is exactly how I would design this suit if I knew how.”

Ladybug nodded. She opened her mouth to speak more, but Robin gained her attention by waving his hand at her. 

“You said I can’t go around as Robin, but you haven't given me a miraculous. I hope you don’t expect me to sit by idly.”

Ladybug pursed her lips. Red Robin she trusted because Blue Beetle had told her specifically about him. But she didn’t know anything about this Robin. 

But the grim determination on his face made her worry relent somewhat. 

Reaching into her yoyo, she pulled out the pendant necklace she had stored earlier. Mullo materialized in a flash of grey and pink sparkles, then circled around Robin, sniffing curiously. 

She handed the necklace to Robin, who fastened it around his neck. The pendant nestled awkwardly on the front folds of Robin’s hood. 

“The words are Mullo, let’s get squeaky.”

Robin almost choked.

She saw Red Robin stifle a laugh as he fiddled with the front buckles for the feather cloak. “Come on, I promise I won’t record. Or tell Hood.”

“Or anyone else,” Robin muttered.

Softly, he spoke the words. 

To Ladybug’s surprise, Robin’s new outfit looked absolutely nothing like what he had just been wearing.

Robin’s skin tone was dark, much darker than Red Robin, whose complexion looked like he had more than a few sunburns. Maybe that was why his mouse themed costume looked distinctly Middle-Eastern. 

The shirt, alternating in certain places between black and grey cloth, hung down to about his knees. Underneath (thankfully), he was wearing pants underneath: black cloth on the inside of his legs and grey on the outside. A cape hung on his shoulders, black on the outside and grey on the inside. She thought she saw the bulge of shoulder armor pads under the cape. 

The jump rope around his waist formed twin tails that poked out of the cape and hovered up, looking like scorpion tail ready to strike. Delicate rose gold designs ran down the center of his shirt, the only pink she could see. 

His mask looked similar to the one she wore as Multimouse, though his was black where hers were pink. There were also more sharp protrusions from the side than hers had. She could see his eyes as well, green like the rippling waters of a clean lake. She wasn’t sure what lay beyond their green depths.

The hood was gone, and alternative strands of his hair reflected the bright sunlight. Two softer tufts of hair stuck out a little, almost like they were mimicking mouse ears.

“Acceptable,” he said as he twisted around to look at his suit with critical eyes. “A real weapon would have been nice though.” 

“I’d rather you not be able to stab anything,” Ladybug said, half-serious. 

“No promises.”

Ladybug furrowed her brow while Red Robin blinked. 

Robin coughed. “A joke.” 

Red Robin looked confused for a second, then burst out laughing. “That one was funny! But really, no stabbing.” 

Robin looked slightly annoyed. 

“Ok, can you both come up with names that we can call you? We can’t still call you ‘Red Robin’ and ‘Robin.’”

“Red Rooster,” the older vigilante decided quickly.

Robin took a few seconds longer to think. “Tt. There are few appropriate names to use here.”

“Whiptail,” he finally decided.

“Isn't that a liz-”

Red Rooster cut off as Whiptail glared at him. “At least you’re not named after a popular restaurant, for the moment.”

Shrugging, Red Rooster began to tinker with his suit. He unfastened his utility belt and slung it over shoulder for a moment. Then, unclipped the fastening of his feathers, he attached them to the clasps at his wrists. The bandolier hooked to the same clips the feathers were just attached to. He stretched his wingspan wide, and the material the feathers were attached to became taut, creating an area of feathers between his wrist, ankles, and sides. 

It was, Ladybug suddenly understood, a sort of makeshift glider.

Whiptail snorted. “I will never understand your fascination with gliding suits.”

Red Rooster grinned. “Anything else Ladybug?”   
  


“Yeah, one more thing. Unless you are an adult, you’ll only be able to use your powers once before you detransform in five minutes. And the kwami’s require food to retransform.”

They both nodded. 

Ladybug took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure if it was because of Marinette’s instincts or Ladybug’s, but she could feel it deep in her bones.

This was the beginning of a new chapter.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never thought I would like designing, but making up those costumes was really fun! I'm sorry if I messed something up on Damian's suit, I just tried looking up Arabic clothing and modeling it after that.
> 
> Also considering putting this on my Tumblr? @gaeasun which is currently empty? I'm not super good with digital art but I'm trying to draw what I imagine to be the Red Rooster suit. Anyone feeling inspired?
> 
> Please kudos and comment! <3


	9. Important Characters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha..... so I'm really sorry that I kinda dropped off the map.  
> After I took a short break from writing this, I started getting procrastination anxiety whenever I started to come back to it, and stayed away for a long time. So to get back into this, I created a list of important characters, including three who are major players to come. 2 of them are already canon that I'm taking my own spin on, and one is my OC. My baby. I got plans for this one, which didn't originally start here, but she fit in so perfectly I couldn't help myself. This is my character, Rose, a couple years after she got her powers, and fun fact, she's actually from the Marvel Universe. I did unfortunately realize there is already a Rose in Miraculous, but once you meet her you will realize they are very different characters.  
> Anyways, I was actually able to come up with more plot, fun. Guess I just need to figure out what's happening immediately next.

Name: Marinette Dupain-Chang

Aliases: Ladybug, Dragonbug, Multimouse, Multifox, Bumble Bug, Guardian

Physical Description: 

  * As Marinette: Somewhat short, petite complexion. Blue-black hair tied into twin fluffy pigtails. Pretty bluebell eyes. 
  * As Ladybug: covered in form fitting red suit, textured with small hexagons. Black spots are dispersed evenly across the suit. Black collar at neck. Hair ties replaced with red ribbons. Face covered in mask with same color and pattern as suit. Red cord around her waist, sometimes holding her yoyo. Yoyo is slim, red and has five dots on either side. Wears small red earrings with five dots on them. 
  * As Bumble Bug: Suit base is Ladybugs standard suit. Across her chest are two black V’s, with yellow in between. Black dots line the red outside the V’s. Similar black V’s with yellow in between are on her wrists and legs. Mask is similar to Chloe’s queen bee, except the top yellow part is now red. Hands and feet are covered in black gloves and boots, respectively. Has yoyo on one hip and top on the other. 



Skills: Sewing, designing, critical thinking, improvisation, creativity, gaming, intuition, strategy, determination, leadership, baking; high levels of physical strength, fitness, and stamina.

Powers: When using a miraculous, is granted increased strength, stamina, and agility. As Ladybug, can gain a Lucky Charm and cast a Miraculous Cure (so literally the power of plot convenience) to fix damage done by akumas or other relevant circumstances. As Bumble Bug, can also use Venom and paralyze an opponent. 

Soulmate: Damian Wayne

Personality: Generally happy and cheerful, but occasionally disheartened by circumstance. Genuinely enjoys helping others. Believes in the power of soulmates (for now). Burdened.

Likes: Tikki, Designing clothes, helping others, being Ladybug, 

Dislikes: Lila, Hawkmoth

Name: Adrien Agreste

Aliases: Chat Noir, Aspik, Bannanoir

Physical Description: 

  * As Adrien: Tall and fit. Has medium length blonde hair that brushes the edges of his face. Emerald eyes. Like if you made sunshine corporeal.
  * As Chat Noir: Wears suit composed of black leather, somewhat sectioned on major muscle groups (shoulders, abs, etc). Comes up in a collar at his neck, with a golden bell at the top of a short zipper ~~that we will never know why exists.~~ Hair is wilder and more voluminous (fluffy!). Sclera of eyes is emerald, while iris becomes more of a peridot color. Eyes become slitted. Most of top half of face is covered in black domino mask. Around his wrist and ankles another length of leather extends, coming to a point before wrapping around his outer wrists and legs. Fingers are sharpened to short black claws. A black belt wraps around his waist and comes off his back like a tail: is detachable. Has steel tipped boots curved at the toes like cat paws. Uses a silver baton that is extendable and detachable, hooks at his back.



Skills: Fencing, piano, modeling, gaming, quips, speaks multiple languages, sneaking out despite his house’s arsenal of cameras. 

Powers: When using a miraculous, is granted increased strength, stamina, and agility. Has cat-like traits, included enhanced hearing and night vision. As Chat Noir he is given the power to destroy or damage anything with a touch. 

Soulmate: None

Personality: Optimistic, generally used to life throwing boulders at him. Looks for the best in all people. Can be rather passive in many aspects of his life. Impulsive and brave. Protective of friends and family, not so much himself. Has had a recent blow to his self-confidence because of a certain you-know-who.

Likes: His friends, Plagg, helping others, fencing, piano.

Dislikes: Lila, Hawkmoth, Camembert

Name: Damian Wayne

Aliases: Robin, Whiptail

Physical Description: 

  * As Damian: Medium height and toned. Somewhat Middle-Eastern complexion. Black and spiky hair. The only Wayne with green eyes, that can pierce your soul. 
  * As Robin: Wears red tunic lined in yellow. Domino mask is green with extensions on either side that look like crescent moons. Yellow utility belt around his waist. Black cape with yellow lining and inside that wraps around his shoulders, with a hood attached. Black long sleeve suit comes out from underneath the tunic, and goes under bulky green gloves. This one wears (green) pants, ending at green combat boots. Robin insignia is over his heart.
  * As Whiptail: excerpt taken from “Cats, Bats, and Rats, Birds and Ladybug Included.”



“The shirt, alternating in certain places between black and grey cloth, hung down to about his knees. Underneath (thankfully), he was wearing pants underneath: black cloth on the inside of his legs and grey on the outside. A cape hung on his shoulders, black on the outside and grey on the inside. She thought she saw the bulge of shoulder armor pads under the cape. 

The jump rope around his waist formed twin tails that poked out of the cape and hovered up, looking like a scorpion tail ready to strike. Delicate rose gold designs ran down the center of his shirt, the only pink she could see. 

His mask looked similar to the one she wore as Multimouse, though his was black where hers were pink. There were also more sharp protrusions from the side than hers had. She could see his eyes as well, green like the rippling waters of a clean lake. She wasn’t sure what lay beyond their green depths.

The hood was gone, and alternative strands of his hair reflected the bright sunlight. Two softer tufts of hair stuck out a little, almost like they were mimicking mouse ears.”

Skills: All the skills except the social ones. Notable ones include hand-to-hand combat and weapons expertise, disguise, observation, languages, assasination, deception, ticking off people, geography.

Powers: When using a miraculous, is granted increased strength, stamina, and agility. As Whiptail, can make tiny duplicates of himself. 

Soulmate: Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Personality: At first stoic, but to his friends and family he is more emotional, and the most dependable. Arrogant, but then again he’s really good at too many things. When he was younger he tended to overestimate his ability, but many years of experience and puberty have increased his capability at beating up people. 

Likes: Jon Kent, Beating up criminals, being right. His family, but he wont tell them that. All animals. 

Dislikes: Criminals, Tahlia Al Ghul, being wrong or incompetent in any way, sibling annoyances

Name: Tim Drake

Aliases: Red Robin, Tim Wayne, Alvin Draper, Red Rooster, 

Physical Description: 

  * As Tim Drake: Medium height and toned. Pale complexion. Has medium length silky black hair that curves around his face. 
  * As Red Robin: black domino mask on face. Red long sleeve shirt, covered by black gloves that go halfway down his forearms, and with two black fins similar to Batman’s. Long black cape, great for being sneaky like Batman, but also can snap into a glider. Cape attaches to Red Robin Insignia on top of chest and also sweeps over his shoulders. From that insignia also has two bandoliers/utility belt/fashion choices that swing around to the back of his hips. Has a yellow utility belt around his waist, with yellow circle/belt? in the front. The pants are jet black and form fitting, but that black extends over his belt and on his shirt suggesting that his suit is, in fact, a onesie. 
  * As Red Rooster: excerpt taken from “Cats, Bats, and Rats, Birds and Ladybug Included”



Ladybug first noticed the feathers. A sheet of them ran from each shoulder to a buckle at either side of his waist, then ran down to his knees and covered the outside of his calves. Buckles similar to the ones on his front were on his gloves.

His mask now had little pieces that went down the sides of his face. Ladybug could now see his eyes, a startling steel-blue that contrasted with the red and black of his suit. His hair, now streaked with red, gently brushed against the sides of the mask. The Red Robin emblem had been replaced with that of the rooster miraculous, connected to a sort of utility belt that slung over his right shoulder and held a quiver of arrows with red feathers. His boots each had a dark red spur in front of the toes. A simple but gleaming recurve bow was in his left hand. The rest of his suit spoke of leather and protection. 

Skills: The best (human) detective pretty much anywhere, secret identity finding, technology, reading and predicting people, martial arts, bo staff, other weapons, leadership, ~~blaming himself when something goes wrong~~ , staying awake for days at a time, knowledge and intelligence, strategic planning, analytics, finding weaknesses. 

Powers: When using a miraculous, is granted increased strength, stamina, and agility. As Red Rooster, he can mark the feathers of the arrows he shoots and teleport between them at will. 

Soulmate: ???????

Personality: Driven, optimistic, humorous, occasionally prone to bouts of depression ~~probably because some certain comic writers enjoy killing everyone he loves~~

Likes: strategy, technology, learning, the Batfamily, 

Dislikes: secrets, being stymied, (sleep?), failing those he loves,

Name: Rose 

Aliases: ??????????, ??????????

Physical Description: Medium height, dark brown hair, toned.

Skills: Martial arts, ???????????, weapons expertise, marksmanship, botany, ????????, ?????

Powers: Plant manipulation, flight, ??????

Soulmate: ???????

Personality: ???????

Likes: Plants, ???????, ????????

Dislikes: Heights, fire, the ocean, ???? ?????, ?????????, ????????

Name: ????? ??????

Aliases: ?????? ?? ???

Physical Description: Pale, almost gray, with loose skin that looks like it doesn’t quite fit. 

Skills: Manipulation, intelligence,

Powers: ????????

Soulmate: None

Personality: Creepy

Likes: Death

Dislikes:Life

Name: Abigail ??????

Aliases: 

Physical Description: White hair, pale periwinkle eyes. a well worn leather jacket.

Skills: Marksmanship, theft

Powers: ???????

Soulmate: ???? ???????

Personality: Absolute boss, determined, wary, 

Likes: Benevolent life magic, life, 

Dislikes: death

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to get back to writing actual chapters soon. Don't worry, this project of mine is too important to me to ever completely abandon. I hope you enjoy this for the time being!
> 
> Also I had pictures that I put on my Tumblr profile @Gaeasun of Whiptail and Red Rooster if anyone wants to go look at those.


	10. Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay I finally feel like writing again! Hope you enjoy some Daminette/LadyTail content.

“Why so antsy?” Tim looked up from his computer at Damian, who was getting ready for school.

Damian scowled. “I am not ‘antsy,’ Drake. And what does the meaning of that word have to do with ants?”

“Antsy and defensive then.”

_ “I’m not--” _ Damian bit back his frustration. 

“I’m just bored. This school is boring. The students are boring. The curriculum is boring.” 

Tim sighed. “You’ve only been there for one day, can’t be that bad. You’ve complained less when you’ve been stabbed. Just pretend it’s some test and you’ll figure it out.” His fingers continued to make the computer keys patter. “And try not to let any of the other students realize how much you hate the class. Ladybug said she would let you know later today who it is you’re supposed to be following, so look forward to that.” 

Damian grunted and swung his backpack over his shoulders, heading for the door. 

“Have fun at school today.”

Without missing a beat, Damian tossed a small knife at Tim. 

Tim caught it, and put it with the others.

Hopefully he wouldn’t do that at school.

  
  


At school, Damian worked on suppressing his “antsy” behavior outside the door to their class. While he didn’t believe in luck, only coincidence, he thought himself fortunate to have been spared another day from meeting his soulmate. But he doubted he would be able go another day without seeing Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

So here he was, waiting outside the door, for her to arrive. He practiced the words he was going to say if she indeed knew he was her soulmate. 

Finally, he saw her walking in through the main doors. Her backpack was half open, and she was clutching some of her books close to her chest. 

As she approached him and the door, he stuck out his hand. 

‘Hello Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, my name is Damian and I’m a new student--”

“Hi,” she said, not looking at him, and walked into the classroom. 

Damian blinked and stared at his proffered hand. 

That was not at all how he expected that to go. By all indications this girl had a kind disposition, so why would she brush him off?

At least he was fairly certain she didn't know he was her soulmate. And hopefully she would never find out. 

A clattering inside the classroom caught Damian’’s attention, and he walked inside to see what the commotion was. 

He was surprised to see Marinette sprawled on a step, the books she was holding still wedged tightly between herself, her arms, and the floor. The books in her backpack, however, had spilled out of the opening and laid on the floor. Marinette herself made no move to get up from the floor.

A few students were chuckling. “Aw Marinette, when are you going to grow out of your clumsy phase?” teased Alya, from a few feet away. 

“I was tripped,” the raven-haired girl muttered, but it didn’t seem anyone was listening to her. 

Alix walked over and helped Marinette to her feet. Together the girls began picking up the books. Damian noticed that a book had made its way under Adrien’s desk, behind Lila. 

Silently he walked over to it. As he went nearer, Lila took notice of him and gave him a beaming smile. “Hi Damian! Did you want to talk to me about something?” 

He sidestepped her, and reached under the table for the book. Adrien waved his hand in front of Damian’s face, something he did  _ not  _ appreciate. He retrieved the book, showed it to both Lila and Adrien, and walked over to Marinette. 

“What’s with that guy?” he heard Adrien whisper to Nino. 

Damian ignored the stares he was getting and handed Marinette her book. His eyes glanced down to her forearms, which had red marks on them. 

When he was satisfied that she wasn’t too injured, he turned around and headed towards his seat. 

“Uh.”

Damian paused and turned his head. “Yes?”

“Thanks, and sorry you said your name was, Damon? Demon?”

Damian heard Adrien exhale pointedly behind him, being the only frenchman in the room who understood English. 

“Damian,” he corrected her pronunciation. He had heard his siblings call him demon enough to be impervious to the insult, and he refused to be insulted by this accident. Even though it was quite an unfortunate one. 

With that, he walked to his seat, ignoring the whispers and stares. Nathaniel gave him a sideways glance from his sketchbook. “You sure are an interesting one.” 

“Thank you,” Damian replied, taking out his own sketchbook and pens. 

The rest of the class passed without incident, until lunchtime. 

Yesterday Nathaniel had sat with him at lunchtime, but today he was sitting with a boy from another class named Marc. Damian ate in lunch in contented silence. Marinette, he noticed, sat with a small group of girls in his direct sightline. 

He might have moved, but that would mean facing the corner, and that would mean having his back exposed to the students.

So he sat, and looked downwards at his lunch. One good thing about this school was that the vegetarian options were excellent. 

A shadow dimmed his view.

Damian looked up to see Lila sitting across from him, with Marinette still visible above her shoulder. 

Damian looked down at his lunch again. 

“Hi Damian! I didn’t really get to talk to you much yesterday, so I thought we could chat today and I could welcome you to our school!”

Still eating and not talking, Damian glanced upwards. Fashion styles were in no way his expertise, but he still thought there was something odd about a girl who would wear two pigtails and a ponytail (Stephanie had once given him an hour long lecture about female and male hair styling patterns). 

He swallowed. “Did you wish to ask me something?”

She smiled. “Well, you’re from America right? I’ve been to America so many times, with my mom being a diplomat and all. I’ve been to LA, New York City, and so many other cool cities. You’re dad is  _ Bruce Wayne _ right? I’ve bet you’ve been to some cool places too!”

As the girl droned on, Damian noticed Marinette look up. Her gaze flitted from him, to Lila, back to him again. She almost looked somewhat concerned. 

Damian felt very strange. Here was a girl she had barely met or knew, and yet out of no where, he began to feel admiration for her. Was this a soulmate thing? Would she start getting feelings for him too?  _ What was happening _ .

“... right Damian?”

Damian swallowed his food and was saved from answering as he nearly choked, probably because he hadn’t entirely finished chewing yet.

“I’m sorry -- _ urf _ \-- can you repeat that?”

Lila’s eyebrows narrowed and she looked over her shoulder. Damian saw her tense when she noticed Marinette in his sightline. 

“You know, you shouldn’t hang around Marinette. I have absolutely no idea why, but she’s been an outright bully to me ever since I started going here. She stole my things and even pushed me down the stairs once. She should have been expelled, but for some reason the charges were completely dropped.”

Damian kept a straight face. But inside, anger and disgust churned in his gut, which only grew as he deadpanned the Lila. He had been taught acting from Alfred and subterfuge by his mother.

He knew how to spot a liar. 

Heat began radiating from his body, brought on by his sudden torrent of emotions. “Excuse me,” he said, rising from the table. “But I’m leaving.” 

And he walked out of the lunchroom, letting everyone stare at him. 

He didn't care at all. 

  
  


Hours later, Whiptail lay on roof of the TVi studio, waiting for Ladybug to finally show up and give him something to do. The sooner he was given his assignment, the sooner he could get out of this strange city.

The sound of a wire vibrating in the air gave away the spotted heroine, despite her best attempts to approach silently. 

When he stood up to meet her, she greeted him with a weary smile. 

“Thanks for meeting me here Whiptail. How are you and Red Robin doing here in Paris?”

Whiptail almost rolled his eyes. Could they please skip the pleasantries?

“We are doing fine. Now. Who is it you need me to follow?” he said bluntly. 

Ladybug closed and opened her eyes slowly, then her smile deepened. “Thanks for taking this so seriously.” 

Sliding open her yoyo, she quickly sent him a file for him to open. Whiptail snatched one of his waving tails and stared at the handle, his brow furrowing. Ladybug reached out her hand to try and help, but was rebuffed by a sharp glare. 

Finally Whiptail gave the round top a small twist, and was able to separate the handle into two parts, revealing a small screen.

When he opened the file Ladybug gave him, he was not surprised at all to see Lila Rossi’s smug face on it. He had several choice words about her he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to let Ladybug to know there was any connection between them. 

“Why exactly do think there’s a connection between her and Hawkmoth?” He continued scrolling through what information she had gathered already. He would probably be able to gain even more with the Batcomputer. 

“Two things. For one, she seems to get akumatized a lot more than most people do. Most people hate it and try to avoid becoming Marks, but it’s almost like she’s purposely trying to get akumatized so she can get what she wants.” 

“Second, there was a strange incident a few years ago, where she framed someone at her school for stealing something of hers, and it made a lot of people upset. Then Hawkmoth did something unusual: he used a means of increasing his own power and to akumatized multiple people at once.”

“He’s only ever done that when he already knows there’s going to be a lot of people with negative emotions. We would have all been in a lot of danger if Hawkmoth hadn’t let them go, a few seconds later, which no one ever found out why. But with all the akumas around, she never got akumatized, which means she wasn’t afraid of them at all.”

Whiptail snapped the handle back together and straightened. “Tt. Those reasons are more than enough. Do you believe she knows who Hawkmoth is?”

Ladybug shrugged. “It’s possible if he told her, but since she’s never had a miraculous she shouldn’t be able to figure out his identity. But if you follow her, you might be able to connect some pieces she can’t, and find out yourself. Or you find Mayura, his partner. At any rate, Lila Rossi is still the only known link to Hawkmoth we have, and we doubt we could follow her enough for some usable information without her noticing first.” 

Whiptail nodded. Finally, he had a goal, something to work towards. Soon he would know more about Rossi than her own mother. 

“Thank you for the information. I will let you know when I have something.” He started away, but a stammer from Ladybug stopped him. 

“I, uh.” Her face took on a red tone, growing similar to her suit. Her fingers twitched nervously. 

“I, just wanted to say, even though, well, I know it’s not really my business, but I wanted to say I was sorry, um, about the former Robin--”

She didn’t get an opportunity to finish before the building began sliding and tilting. Whiptail instinctively reached for his grappling gun, before forgetting he didn’t have one. 

He need to rectify that soon. 

The alarming screech of tearing metal shrieked through the air, and Whiptail was forced to leap off the building to avoid being flattened. Ladybug did the same. 

For a few seconds they were in free fall, arms spread wide to slow and stabilize their fall. 

A moment before they hit the ground, he angled towards Ladybug, she wrapped an arm around his waist, and hooked her yoyo on a building protrusion. They safely swung to the ground.

He was somewhat surprised by their easy teamwork. 

Looking up at the building they were just on, Whiptail felt his mouth go dry. 

There was clean, angled slice that had neatly sheared the building in two. Like that idiotic Lantern Jordan had been playing around with a giant sword. 

A couple hundred feet away stood, a mime? who was untouched by the rubble. He glared at them with hate and death in his eyes. His hands began to move, interacting with something Whiptail could not see. 

But he had seen enough people operate a rocket launcher to recognize the movements, and Ladybug seemed to as well. They both high-tailed it the their left and took cover in an alley, while the street exploded behind them. 

“The Mime,” Ladybug panted. “Can create any object by miming it, only one at a time, and it disappears if he makes any noise.”

Whiptail grinned. He was excellent at making people talk, one way or another. 

“I have a plan, but it would work better if you could lure him into a dark room.” 

Ladybug nodded, and ascended the alley by jumping from wall to wall. 

Once he was certain The Mime was sufficiently distracted, he darted out of the alley and followed the two opponents from a distance. 

He watched them closely until he was sure he knew what building Ladybug was trying to drive The Mime into, and ran around the fight and entered the building from the back. 

A few steps in, and all the lights in the building flickered and went out. 

This heroine was very reliable. Now, it was his turn.

He found the room where The Mime prowled for Ladybug, and activated his Multitude. 

Skittering across the room, Whiptail made sure to make small noises in different places. He heard the sound of The Mime whipping his head around, trying to find the source of the noises. 

Once Whiptail had assembled around the Mark’s feet, he pounced, climbing up the man. 

The Mime immediately began yelping and swatting at his clothes, trying to smack the pests off. The Whiptail that wore the miraculous perched on his neck, and whispered. 

_ “You should be afraid.” _

Outside the room, Ladybug heard The Mime shriek, followed by a glow of purple light that indicated the Mark had detransformed. A little black butterfly fractured with purple fluttered by her. She quickly caught the akuma and cast her cure. 

From inside, Whiptail called out:   
  


“Ladybug, I used my Multitude and need to go detransform. Until next time.”

He exited through the back and found a sheltered spot to become Damian again. Mullo flopped into his cupped hands.

“Let’s go Mullo. Fresh grapes await us at the apartment.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close, and yet so far! The power of a writer is convenient drama. 
> 
> As always, plz Kudos and Comment!


	11. The Girl with the Snow White Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets a strange new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you ready to meet the most kick-but character of this story? Move over Damian! (ok Kagami probably ties)

“Hey girl, me and Lila are going to hang out after school. Wanna come?” 

Marinette sighed, trying to put away all the paper Mlle Bustier had given them. “Alya, I already told you a while ago I’m not ever going to hang out with Lila.”

“But-”

“Ever.”

Alya huffed. “I still don’t see why you don’t like Lila. I though you got over Adrien, when, uh…”

“When I learned my best chance for love was killed in an accident before I got my first dream?” Marinette said wryly. 

Her formerly best friend’s forehead scrunched up. “Marinette, don’t be so hard on yourself. Remember, this has happened to others before, and some of them fell in love with someone else.”

“Come on Alya, I think I’m more likely to die falling off my balcony than that happening.”

“Well, even if it doesn’t, which it will because you’re an amazing girl, there’s more to life than romance, girl! There’s friends, there’s family, there’s school,” she said, wrinkling her nose at she picked up tonight’s assignment. 

“Anyways, so is that a yes on hanging out with me and Lila today?”

Marinette hefted her bag over her shoulder. “Sorry Alya, but my answer is today and forever no.”

“But I’m sure if you got together you would get along better! She knows Jagged Stone, you know Jagged Stone, we could have a jam-out sesh!”

“No.”

“Pleeeaaaase?”

“No.” With that, Marinette turned and walked out the door without looking back. 

At the front of the school, Adrien put a hand on her shoulder, catching her by surprise. She whipped around, instinctively ready to fight back. Seeing it was Adrien, she froze.

“Uh, are you ok Marinette?” Adrien asked, an eyebrow raised.  
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine! I just thought you were a Mark for some reason. Sorry!”

Adrien looked at her oddly, shifting his weight between his feet. He also yawned, covering his mouth with his hand for a moment. “Oh. But I do mean, are you ok? Lila hasn’t been hurting you has she?”

Marinette stared at him, her mouth forming a little o. 

Adrien’s eyes widened in alarm. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to bring up anything bad, it’s just…” He didn’t finish his sentence.

Why now? Adrien had been fine being passively on her side. Did something change, was he actually going to help her?

But as Marinette thought for a second more, she realized he still was being passive. He could barely look at her now, and was so quick to apologize.

He wasn’t going to actually help her. And if he wasn’t, there was no reason to hurt the both of them more. 

“Of course I’m fine Adrien,” she lied. “I haven’t gotten expelled again.”

Tufts of blond hair bounced as he nodded, and he had to brush them out of his eyes. “Yeah! I just wanted to make sure.” He began to walk away as his bodyguard pulled up.

“See you!” He waved, and then was gone. 

Marinette grimaced. Adrien was her friend, and she hoped he always would be.

But, he wasn’t her ally. And until he showed that he was willing to stand with her, and not just by her, there was only so much she could share with him.

She couldn’t risk him, or herself. 

Marinette took a deep breath in, held it, and released it slowly. No negativity for her. Today, she was going to go to the park and draw until she couldn’t think of another design. Or until someone got akumatized. 

The day was clear and the fresh scent of cut flowers carried on the wind. Not to brisk, but blowing fast enough to be cooling. It was, a perfect day. 

Sitting down on a bench, Marinette smiled at the familiar sights of Paris. The Eiffel tower rose high in the distance. A girl was relaxing in the shade of a tree. A couple of kids were playing some form of soccer in the grass. 

As Marinette’s gaze wandered throughout the park, she came back to the girl under the tree. She was wearing this black leather jacket that looked so cool. Adding to the tough girl look, a metal baseball bat lay on the grass next to her. Inspired, Marinette began to sketch out different ideas for leather jacket designs, looking up at the girl every so often. 

The girl got up every few minutes to sit at another tree, which seemed strange but it let Marinette see lots of angles on the jacket. The only thing she never got to see was the back. 

As the girl got closer to Marinette, Marinette felt uneasy, like there was something about this girl that wasn’t quite right, but she wasn’t sure what. 

Maybe she was just getting paranoid. 

Something poked at her leg. Marinette subtly shifted her eyes down and saw that the poking was coming from inside her bag. Tikki. The last time Tikki had done this was when she saw Adrien and Lila with the Grimoire. 

Marinette looked up, and met the girl’s eyes for a brief second. The girl froze, as if she wasn’t expecting for Marinette to look back. Her eyes were an unusual color, like a purple periwinkle. Her hair was completely white, adding to her peculiarity. 

Marinette carefully closed her sketchbook and packed up her things. Please don’t be some sort of Mark, or Sentimonster.

Looking away, she quickly stood up from the bench. 

“Aștepta!” 

The girl’s hand was so close to Marinette’s shoulder, but hovered above less than a centimeter from her shirt. 

Confused, Marinette shook her head. She didn’t speak, whatever language that was. Something Eastern European, she thought. 

The girl slowly withdrew her hand from Marinette. She began to speak quickly in a language that Marinette only understood maybe every fifth word. Not enough to know what she was saying. 

The girl stopped, and scowled. She tugged on her jacket as she spoke. Trying again, she spoke in what Marinette recognized as English. Which Marinette also did not speak.

Finally, the girl put a hand on her chest and said, “Abigail.”

Marinette pointed to herself and spoke her own name. 

“Ce ești tu?”

A slight shiver ran through Marinette. Although she didn’t know the exact meaning of what Abigail had just said, she knew the girl was asking about her. Had she been stalked? Marinette thought she would have noticed someone with white hair and a baseball bat. 

“Marinette,” Abigail began, before she stopped, gaping at something behind Marinette. 

“Ai grija!” she shouted, and swung her bat. 

Marinette rolled on the ground, and came back up in a ready stance. Then she saw why Abigail had swung her bat. 

It was a knight clad in dark armor. Marinette watched as Abigail smacked it a few times with her bat. She really knew how to use that thing. The knight groaned and toppled over like a domino. 

Abigail turned back to Marinette and spread her arms wide, like she was asking what the heck was a knight doing attacking them. 

Marinette resisted the urge to groan loudly. The election, she had totally forgotten about it. Guess she knew who won. 

Scanning the areas, Marinette saw more knights approaching from one side of the park. Motioning for Abigail to follow her. She sprinted towards the nearest building and hoped it wasn’t already occupied. 

The girls crouched beside the door. Marinette looked around for a window, but didn’t see any. Abigail decided to open the door and yell loudly into the interior. When nothing responded, Abigail walked in, letting Marinette follow her. 

Marinette listened for the sound of clanking boots, but heard nothing but the sounds of her and Abigail breathing. Despite having no idea what was going on, Abigail was breathing slowly and steadily. 

Spotting a door, Marinette peeked inside, then caught Abigail’s attention with a wave. She pointed inside, then gestured for Abigail to head in. Once Abigail was in the room, she walked out. Time to find a place to transform.

“Marinette…”

Abigail had opened the door, and for some reason was looking at Marinette with sad eyes. She seemed torn between safety and Marinette. 

“I have to go.” Marinette hoped the seriousness of her expression was enough to convince Abigail to stay. Without another word, she went up the stairs towards the roof. Abigail did not follow. 

Once on the roof, Marinette transformed into Ladybug. Opening her yoyo, she checked for signs of Chat Noir. To her surprise, she saw his icon right next to Whiptail. 

She heard the two of them before she saw them. They were arguing loudly, or at least Chat Noir was. Whiptail was talking in a condescending, growly tone. 

“-I already said, Wormtail, he has too many knights! He’ll catch you before you get close enough.”

“I told you to stop calling me that. And it will work, with sufficient distraction, which I’m sure Ladybug could do, with your help.”

Chat Noir’s ears flattened on his head. “We’re partners! We know how to work together, which is more than I can say for you.”

They both jumped back as Ladybug flung her yoyo between them. 

“What are you doing.” The Black Cat gave her an odd stare, and she realized her both sounded strange, with complete detachment as opposed to their furious tones.

“We were discussing strategy,” Whiptail stated, his anger immediately quelled. 

Ladybug sighed. “Ok, tell me your ideas. But try and do it a little quieter so no one hears us, if they haven't already.”

“My idea is that we should find Darkblade, and then you use your Lucky Charm and we all attack him together, and take him down before the knights can do anything about it.”

“I think a full on frontal assault would be foolish when we are outnumbered, and I should multiply and sneak up on him while his attention is elsewhere, preferably on the both of you.“

Ladybug crossed her arms and tried to think. Both plans could work, or they might not. And she couldn't bring herself to agree with a plan just because of who came up with it. 

“Ok, here’s the plan.” She exhaled slowly. 

“Chat, we’re going to find Darkblade and attack him as hard as we can.” He shot a triumphic look at Whiptail.

“But, while we are fighting him, Whiptail will go small and look for any opportunity to snatch the sword and release the akuma.” Chat Noir’s sharp, green gaze returned to her. 

“Whiptail, Chat Noir and I have been fighting Mark’s for years. We know how to handle ourselves. But Chat Noir, it won’t hurt to have Whiptail using his own skills.”

“Skulking around, you mean.” But Chat Noir lost his aggression, agreeing with her plan.

They found Darkblade on the Eiffel tower, using it for his base of operations, because what Mark doesn’t like using the giant tower of metal as their hiding place.

Whiptail used Multitude and began stealthily moving up on of the sides, while Ladybug threw her yoyo to the top of the tower, ready to swing in. 

Ladybug summoned her Lucky Charm, and received a fishing rod with a magnetic clasp instead of a hook.

With a glance at Chat Noir, she hooked an arm around him and swung them both directly to Darkblade. 

Darkblade fought viciously, but Chat Noir’s skill of using his staff as a sword had improved. He kept the dark knight at bay while she prepared to trap him with her yoyo. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw knights drop as Whiptail took them down, while one ran towards Darkblade. 

Chat Noir forced the blade into the floor, and Ladybug was able to successfully trap him with her yoyo. 

Whiptail reached the blade at the same time Chat Noir ripped it out of the ground, which sent the small hero flying. Using the fishing rod, Ladybug was able to catch him.

The blade was already crumbling to dust in Chat Noir’s hand when she reeled in Whiptail. 

“I don’t know, Ladybug, this one seems a little small. Might have to release him.”

The rat glared at the cat as Whiptail returned to full size, which was a full inch taller than Chat Noir. 

“It was good to work with you again Ladybug.” Then he was gone. Chat Noir’s hair bristled. “How does he keep doing that?”

Ladybug sighed. “Chat Noir, what is up with you? Insulting him, throwing him out of the Eiffel tower? You’re being cattish, and it’s not like you.” 

He perked. “Are my puns rubbing off on you, finally?” Then he yawned, and rubbed his hand on his face. “Sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well, and other things,” he admitted.

She wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know how. She could barely fix her own problems. 

They stood their, until her earrings began beeping. She threw her yoyo, ready to leave.

“Ladybug?” He had his hand out. 

“Pound it.” How long had it been since they did that?

Then she was gone, leaving him to the view. 

A cough distracted Chat Noir, and he realized that D’Argencourt was behind him, looking confused.

“Come on, let’s get you down.”

Ladybug barely made it to the park before she turned back into Marinette, and went to check on Abigail. She found her sleeping in the room she had been hiding in. Marinette woke her up gently.

Abigail’s hand went to her bat before she realized what was happening. She sat up and muttered to herself, her hand still resting on the bat. 

“Hang on, I think I have an idea.” Marinette reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She found a translating website, from French to…

She handed her phone to Abigail, and the girl perused the options before finding something readable. 

So they conversed through her phone as Marinette brought her to her house for something to eat.

Abigail was Romanian, and had been raised there for a a long time by her crazy and abusive uncle. When she turned sixteen, she had a dream about a boy made of leaves, and knew he was her soulmate and could protect her from her uncle. So she left her house and had been making her way too the coast so she could find a boat to take her to America, where she knew her soulmate lived. 

Marinette shuddered. She had only been raised with love and care, and couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be raised by someone who didn’t love you. She thought of Adrien, but he had his mother, and a good family for a long time. Abigail never had any of that. 

She told Abigail about how Paris had their very own magical terrorist, and how they had magical heroes who fought him, reminding herself once more of the ludicrous situation they are in. 

“What kind of heroes are they?”

Marinette tried to be as vague as possible, just telling Abigail that they were animal themed and magical. 

Abigail shifted her bat under her arm, and tilted the phone so Marinette couldn’t see what she was typing, then handed it to Marinette. 

You are one of them.

Marinette tripped and hit the ground hard. Abigail helped her up, with a knowing look.

“What? No I’m, I’m totally not any kind of hero whatsoever!!”

Remembering Abigail couldn’t understand her, she typed furious denials into her phone. Abigail took the phone and erased everything Marinette had written. 

I don’t care who you are. But now you won’t think I’m crazy. 

Marinette wasn’t sure about that part. There was definitely something different about this girl.

Then, she remembered how she thought something was strange about Abigail just from looking at her. Now that she was closer she knew what. Abigail’s snow white hair had no trace of highlights at the base of her hair. Even the hair on the left side, which was short like it had been shave a few weeks ago, was as white as the rest of her hair. 

You’re different, aren’t you. 

Abigail nodded, then put the phone back in Marinette’s hands. 

She then shoved her free hand in her pocket and walked in silence, being satisfied to take in the beautiful sights of Paris. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been going though some stuff in life, and I'm not sure if I'm going to take a break from writing, or write like the world's about to end (though it looks like end times may be upon us anyways).


	12. Secrets Have Their Way of Coming Out Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively titled, It's Not the Fall That Kills You. AKA Marinette finds out a secret that almost breaks her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you guys ready for the TENSION! The ANGST! Part I of Marinette's epic fall, heading towards rock bottom. Will she be able to make it out heart and mind intact? Who knows! (Probably but it's going to hurt in the meantime)  
> Also I wrote most of this at 2 in the morning so let's hope spell check was working.

Marinette had just wanted to give Abigail a nice dinner and send her on her way to the America’s. 

Marinette’s parents had other ideas. 

One look. One look from her mom, and it was like she saw right through Abigail. It was a long, piercing look, and when she was done, Sabine asked:

“Do you have a place to stay for the night dear?”

Abigail admitted she didn't (apparently her mom spoke Romanian), and found herself stying the night for a few days. Her mom didn’t pry, just smiled sweetly and heaped pastries on Abigail’s plate, who ate them like she hadn’t tasted anything that good in years. 

Sometimes Marinette thought Sabine was some kind of metahuman, but when asked her mom just smiled and told her that she had been taught when she was young how to tell someone’s intentions from a single look. 

Marinette had asked if she could be shown this special skill, but her mom had hugged her and told her to learn this, you had to be willing to immediately see the worst in a person. Marinette was not this kind of person. 

Marinette still thought it was dangerous for Abigail to stay in Paris, with her both knowing Marinette’s secret, and with Marinette’s suspicions that Abigail might not be just human. 

Metahuman at the least. The way she could immediately tell that Marinette was special made Marinette pretty sure she had some kind of special sense. Not the kind her mother had, but something else entirely. 

She had pressed Abigail to tell her how she knew, but Abigail said she wanted two days of peace, of “normalcy.”

Marinette wasn't sure why Abigail wanted that in Paris of all places.

When it was dark and quiet in the house, Tikki emerged. She looked troubled, and circled Marinette’s pillow several times before she settled in. 

“Tikki, do you know something about Abigail?”

Tikki’s feelers were twitching rhythmically. “Yes, and no. I’ve never met her before, but I’ve met her kind. She’s very very bad news Marinette, and I think you should stay away from her until she leaves. If you have to, use the Horse Miraculous and take her somewhere else.”

Marinette was shocked. Tikki always talked about believing the best, doing the right thing, being good to herself and others. Telling her to forcefully remove someone from the city who hadn’t done anything against her sounded extreme.

“Why? Tikki, she hasn’t hurt anyone, and I don’t think offending her is a good idea if she knows who I am. Even if she doesn’t tell anyone, she could still get akumatized and tell Hawkmoth.”

“I don’t think she could be akumatized if she doesn’t want to be Marinette.”

Marinette sat up straight. “What? How! TIkki, I thought we didn’t keep secrets so can you just please tell me what you know?”

“Marinette…” Tikki hopped onto Marinette’s lap. “I think this is something that should wait until you defeat Hawkmoth. It’s part of your Guardian duties, something that me and Plagg weren’t going to tell you until you didn’t have to handle so much at once. And this is something I need Plagg to help explain.”

Stung, Marinette got back under the covers, facing away from the displaced Tikki. So many secrets everywhere. From Abigail, from Tikki, even from herself. 

Marinette went to sleep wishing the secrets could come out. 

The next day Ladybug went to meet with Red Rooster on how he was doing at narrowing down Hawkmoth’s identity. They met on a low rooftop with plenty of surrounding cover. 

As usual, she arrived first, and he scared the spots off of her by materializing out of nowhere.

“How do you keep doing that?”

He shrugged. “It’s a Batman trademark move. Element of surprise.” He took out his bow and tapped a few times on a tiny display screen that popped out from the grip. 

Ladybug squinted. “How can you even see what’s on that?”

“One second…” A few more taps, and the bow projected a screen onto the ground. Ladybug stared in awe.

“How did you do that? I’ve been doing this for years and never knew that was possible.”

“Tech is kind of my thing. One of my things. The hard part is really keeping it still.” Withdrawing an arrow, he propped up the bow and angled the screen downwards so they could both look at it. 

“So, I took your list of names you had already crossed out, and took those out from the male population. Then I found some video of Hawkmoth and found his approximate height and weight. From what you’ve told me I don’t think those change when transformed.”

For a second Ladybug saw an image of a six foot tall Chat Noir. 

“Couldn’t factor out eye color, because I’ve seen that change, or hair color, because for all we know he could be completely bald. Hard to tell with his mask.” Ladybug almost snorted at the idea of an egghead Hawkmoth. 

“So now, I’m using reason to slowly create more parameters. He needs privacy to akumatize people, so I took out all people who are working jobs where they are in regular and constant contact with people.”

“Ok, I get all these things, but why are you telling me? I told you that if Blue Beetle trusts you, then I trust you to do this, so why are you laying out all these steps?”

“Because, I’m trying to show you. To teach you.”

“You’ve been doing this for the most part, alone and untrained. Unless you plan on calling in help every time you face a major threat, I’m trying to show you how to think so you can do some of these things yourself if something like this happens again. Plus, I’m never one to shy away from giving knowledge.”

Ladybug nodded, touched, and payed eager attention as Red Rooster showed her other things he was doing, like running the same parameters for Mayura and looking for associations with anyone in his list for Hawkmoth. 

She had never had a brother. But she felt a sort of kinship to Red Rooster. Would they have been friends if Robin hadn’t died? She had heard that all the bat affiliated heroes worked like a group of family members, even if they were sometimes dysfunctional family members. 

Would Red Rooster have been like her brother-in-law?

She wondered if she would tell him, should ask him about the soulmate she never knew. 

“Um, Red Rooster.”

He glanced at her, noting the sudden uncertainty in her voice. 

“I, um, wanted to ask- I say to mean, I.” She took a deep breath “I wanted to say I’m sorry about you’re Robin that died.”

“Oh.” He frowned. “Which one?”   
  


“What!?”

He grinned sheepishly. “Well, most of us have faced death at one time or another. But it actually took, for a while, with two of us. Not me.”

Ladybug was suddenly very grateful for the healing power of the Ladybug Miraculous. 

“I mean, the one who died a couple years ago. Five or six, I think?”

“You mean Robin?”

She stared blankly. “I mean- no I mean the one who was Robin, but then died.”

“That’s Robin. The same one who came with me. Crazy set of circumstances, but he came back too.”

“No.”

His face screwed. “No? What do you mean no? You seem to be taking this a little personally- wait are you ok?

Ladybug was absolutely, most definitely,  _ not _ ok. She licked her lips, trying to get them wet enough to speak again. “No no no. He can’t be alive. He died. He was shot and burned and beaten and killed. He is not alive. He died!”

Narrowing his eyes, Red Rooster turned to face her. “How could you possibly know that? The only people there were assassins, and you don’t-”

He stopped. His face paled even more. “Oh I knew it. I  _ knew  _ it. That little brat-” He covered his mouth so quickly he hit himself in the mouth. 

“You’re his soulmate.” He said it plainly, so matter of factly that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to deny it. Maybe inviting the guy with a penchant for figuring out secret identities wasn’t the best idea. 

“What!? No, no I’m totally not. She’s a- _ huff _ \- she’s a friend of mine. A girl my age. She- _ huff _ \- told me a while ago.” Ladybug was having trouble breathing of her own will, of keeping her lungs steady. 

“She, she told me! She- _ gasp- _ thought he was dead.” A tear trickled down her mask. “He broke her heart.” 

“Ok, sure. Ladybug, I need you to calm down. Can you calm down? Try counting in between each breathe. Stop hyperventilating.” He began typing rapidly on the bow. 

Ladybug couldn’t. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t count, she couldn't think. She barely heard Red Rooster, talking with the bow as he tried to reach someone. “Come on, pick up!” 

Then she heard something else. The faintest flap of butterfly wings. She turned around and saw an akuma a few yards away from her. She fumbled with her yoyo, trying to catch it before it could her. Red Rooster got in front of her, an arrow nocked. But they both knew there were people he could hit if he fired. 

It got closer, closer. 

Then it froze, trembling in the air. Black dust creeped in from the edges of its dark wings, until it reached the the butterflies body. The wings stopped fluttering, and it fell, black and dead, to the ground below.

Ladybug peered over the edge. There stood Abigail, her chest heaving as if she had been sprinting. Her arm, outstretched towards where the butterfly had been. She stood frozen under Ladybug’s gaze for a second. Then she turned and ran.

Red Rooster’s bow beeped. “Finally,” he muttered. “Get here, Paris, now!”

In a few seconds, a short boy with red hair that flopped all over the sides of his head and in front of his face appeared out of nowhere. 

“Sorry that took so long, Paris is a big city! And I had to tell the teacher I had to go to the bathroom. Bonjour mademoiselle!” he spoke in perfect French. He reached for her hand for a kiss, but she pulled away.

“Impulse, get us out of Paris now!”

And they were out of Paris, her head spinning from the distance she had just traveled seemingly instantaneously. 

Red Rooster took a second to steady himself against a tree, then detransformed, showing that he apparently changed into his Red Robin suit before transforming. Orikko fluttered up into the tree and sat of a low branch, curiously watching the scene unfold.

Ladybug was out of Paris. She was out of any akuma’s reach. For the first time in years, she was free. Free to completely break down. And she did, letting everything out in tears. The secrets, the stress, the pain. She sobbed in her arms as Red Robin awkwardly watched and tried to shoo Impulse away.

A blast of air, and Impulse was gone and she was suddenly holding a small pint of strawberry chocolate chip ice cram and a spoon. 

Red Robin watched the sky as she cried and slowly licked her ice cream. After what felt like hours, when she was out of tears and ice cream, he started to ask her questions.

“When did you know Robin was your soulmate?”

“It was my first dream, when I saw him killed. A little research and I found out there was a Robin who disappeared a few years ago,” she sniffed. “And there were so many Robins, I thought that the Robin that came after was someone else.” 

Red Robin winced. Was that really their reputation? So many Robins?

“So I thought he was dead, and I would never get to meet him. But I never found out his identity. I thought I might later, but I don’t really follow famous Americans much, so I never recognized the people with him. They, and I guess you, wore really expensive and quality suits so I figured you were someone important or famous. But I didn’t want to find out.” 

He nodded, and tried searching his utility pockets for a tissue that wasn’t laced with sleeping drugs or nanotechnology. Finding none, he took a pad of paper and ripped out a page to help her dry her face. Then he brought out a pen and asked her for any kind of details she found in her dreams that would prove that she was indeed Robin’s soulmate.

She told him things she had seen in their house, mostly certain items of clothes. Satisfied, he jotted them down and put it away.

Red Robin thought for a moment. Then he took off his mask, showing a face that she recognized from her dreams. 

“My name is Tim Drake, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Marinette.”

Ladybug groaned and detransformed. “I’m just a disaster, aren’t I?”

“It’s ok. You’re not the only one, especially in the soulmate department.” He sighed. “And especially my little-” He said an English word she didn’t know. It didn’t sound friendly. “-of a brother.”

He called up Impulse again, asking for him to bring his brother in immediately. 

Damian appeared in a flash. 

He glared at Marinette, like a deer frozen in headlights. Several emotions showed on his face: guilt, fear, anger. Finally, he whirled on Tim. 

“What is the meaning of this?” he exploded. “How dare you do this to me! You have no  _ right _ ! You are giving away our secret identities to a girl that we barely know! You’re endangering all of us, you neanderthalic-”

“DAMIAN! LOOK AT HER!” 

He did. He met her gaze square on, so full of emotion that she turned away. 

“I never knew,” he said. “I never knew you were a magic superhero. All I saw was Marinette. And Marinette-”

“Is too boring for someone like you,” she interrupted bitterly. 

He shrugged helplessly. “In a way, yes. I am a hero, the heir the the mantle of Batman. There was no way I could bring a normal girl into my life. I thought it was a mistake, the universe scrambling to cover for my unexpected conception.”

Marinette turned away. She found some solace in the the horizon. It sat in the distance, receiving the sun every day. 

“You need to leave.”   
  


Damian seemed stunned.

“You need to leave Paris. And never come back, at least not until Hawkmoth has been defeated. I can’t  _ deal _ with this. I need you gone.”   
  


“Marinette, please, I-”

“You _ what _ . You left me grieving for years. You gave me nightmares of your death for months. You stood face to face with me and lied the whole time. The least you can do now is leave.”

He stood, staring. Finally he nodded. “I will do as you say.”

Damian and Tim argued behind her while she sat down and watched the horizon.

Watched the sun slowly set, gold and crimson mingling together. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that scene was as dramatic and epic and angsty as you guys wanted. No? Then just wait for the next chapter because it could quite possibly be worse. 
> 
> As always, please kudos and comment! <3


	13. Secrets Have Their Way of Coming Out Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor stressed and emotionally messed up Adrien decides to sneak out. Maybe not his best decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well grab your tissues because part two of this heart-wrencher of a mid story crisis is finally done! Actually, this got kinda long so I'm planning on writing a part three that will be part action/part explaining all the weird stuff I'm putting in.

Adrien was trying to sleep. He had been trying for the past few hours. 

He was not being very successful.

After he changed his position for the thousandth time, Plagg floated over, his mouth open in a toothy yawn.

“Ok kid. Spill it. You haven’t been sleeping well for over a week. I guess it’s time to talk about mushy feelings and not mushy cheese. What’s bothering you?”

Adrien shrugged, adding yet another crease to his sheets that had just been washed (again) today. Nathalie probably wasn’t going to be too happy about that. 

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Maybe I’m just stressed.”

“Well, I got  _ that  _ kid. But what exactly is stressing you? It’s just going to eat you up on the inside.” Plagg licked his lips. “Speaking of eating, I’m getting cheese.”

“A lot of things, I guess. Lila, for sure.” He shuddered. Lately every time he even went near her, his feelings clashed so hard he felt physically nauseous. Whenever he thought of her, he would feel the urgent need to get as far away from her as possible. But when they had a photoshoot together, those feelings faded, to be replaced by admiration and sympathy.

A thought struck Adrien, so terrible that he had to bolt to the bathroom to make it to the toilet in time. Plagg watched with wide-eyed concern as his dinner ended up in the bowl.

“Adrien! What was that?” He hovered at the edge of the bathroom, his paws over his nose. “That stinks! The bad kind of stink, not the wonderful stench of cheese.” He floated a little closer. “Are you ok?”

Adrien wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and grabbed his toothbrush to get the sour taste out of his mouth. “I just had the worst idea. Whenever I’m with Lila, I don’t want to leave her. But when I’m not with her, I can’t get far away enough. What if I  _ like  _ her!?”

Plagg considered Adrien’s emotions, then shrugged. “I don’t know, it could be. Humans are weird with love. I only like three things: cheese and you.”

“That’s two things.”

“Well I don’t have to tell you the third one.”

Adrien’s head clunked against the sink. “Life seems really hard lately. I have to worry about Lila, about school, about that  _ Wormtail _ , and about how my father can’t be bothered to spend time with me anymore.” He slumped on the ground.

Plagg came closer and nuzzled against Adrien. “If you ask me, things in life hurt less when you care about them less. But you’ll always have me!” 

He snuggled with Plagg until they both fell asleep.

Adrien woke up early and cleaned up, removing any trace of his sickness last night. He tucked Plagg in his pocket with a piece of cheese. He felt tempted to wake him up, but had learned the hard way that Plagg became grumpy when awoken. But Adrien knew Plagg would be proud, because today was a Saturday.

And Adrien, not Chat Noir, was sneaking out today. 

Walking in the park, away from peering eyes and tight schedules felt so good, so free. In the sunshine, he could almost forget his worries and troubles. 

That is, until the crazy lady with a baseball bat showed up. 

He had accidentally bumped into her, as they both rounded a street corner. He tried to apologize, but before he could get a single word in, she had narrowed her eyes, and next thing he knew he was dodging a baseball bat, and from the intense look in her eyes he judged he might be running for his life. 

None of the nearby people did anything to help. The probably assumed it was some low-level crazy Mark. So it was up to Adrien to run.

Behind him, the girl was shouting things in some Eartern European language (sometime’s Adrien was annoyed by the fact that his father had him learn so many languages. He didn’t even speak her’s but he recognized the words with Latin roots and was able to figure out the rest) like, “You’re one of them!” and “I won’t let you tell my Uncle about me!” and “Leave me alone!” Which Adrien wished she would do.

Finally, he made the mistake of dodging into an alley. She stood menacingly at the entrance, blocking escape. Adrien tried to show he was harmless by holding his empty hands up. “Whatever it was I didn’t do it!”

“Abigail?”

Was that Marinette’s voice? Sure enough, his raven-haired friend popped her head around the corner. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening. She began talking to the girl, Abigail, like she knew her, telling her to stop, that she knew Adrien and he was a friend. 

Abigail was undeterred. She walked closer to Adrien and began asking him questions like she was interrogating him.

“Are you my Uncle?” Wait, that wasn’t right. Some word he was missing, with? Was he with her Uncle? 

Adrien vigorously shook his head, not sure she would understand him. “No?”

She swung her bat at him again. “You are Black!” His eyes slid over to his bare hand, then back at her. “Again, no?”

“Adrien, what is she saying? Can you understand her? Tell her to stop!”

“Not sure if that will work.”

She lunged towards him, and caught his forearm with the bat. He yelped and fell backwards. Abigail bore down on him, a mixture of anger and fear in her eyes. Marinette was still shouting and trying to grab Abigail, but the white-haired girl shook her off and brought the bat down again. 

“Abigail Arcane, stop!”

All three people froze, staring at the source of the new voice. Finally, Marinette spoke, her voice filled with bewilderment. 

“ _ Plagg?”  _

She froze again and covered her mouth, her eyes darting towards Adrien. 

Abigail overcame her shock and hefted her bat again. “You’re the source! You are the Black! I will fight you!” 

“Hey kid, I am part of the Black, but I’m not crazy and destructive! Mostly. I’m on the side of balance, and good, and cheese. I met you when you were a baby, do you remember?”

She paused, tilted her head. She spoke some word uncertainly. Plagg flattened his ears. “I still hate that nickname. But yeah, Fu came to Romania and I snuck away because I could feel your presence. You were always really strong.”

Adrien didn’t speak. His mind seemed numb.

“What’s going on?” Marinette seemed almost panicked. 

Plagg turned to her. “Sorry kid, me and Sugar Cube were planning on telling you about the grand color wheel of the elements, but we didn’t want to give you more problems when you’ve already been facing Hawkmoth.”

“Ladybug?” 

Marinette smiled; softly, sadly. “Yeah. Who knew we were so close after all this time.”

“No.”

Marinette’s smile disappeared. “No?” 

“No. No, you can’t be Ladybug.” 

Marinette’s purse unlatched, and Tikki poked her head out. “Something’s wrong,” she warned.

His breathing came faster, shallower. “No. You can’t! You, Ladybug, you are both some of the best people in my life.” He looked down and squeezed his eyes shut against the tears that began flowing.

“And I hurt you. I let Lila hurt you both, in different ways. I didn’t protect you, like I should have.” He began fumbling with his ring. 

“Chaton, you didn’t-”

“Yes!” Memories flashed in his mind, of the tired looks Marinette had when she thought no one was watching. How Ladybug had to fight extra akuma’s because of Lila and her lies. How Marinette was going to expose Lila.

And he didn’t let her. He let Marinette fight battles constantly, against Lila, against the classmates that turned against her, against the constant war of the Miraculous. This wasn’t right. He was Chat Noir, it was his job to protect her. 

How had he failed so miserably?

He finally was able to take off his ring, and he shoved it into her hand. “Find someone. Who can protect you better than I did. Don’t worry, I won’t let  _ him _ know about you. No matter what.”

Then he ran, gasping for air. 

  
  
  
  
  


“What just happened,” Marinette said softly.

Plagg was staring in the direction Adrien had run. “That was not how I was expecting the reveal to go.” Then he snapped out of it, flying in a loop. “Come on, we gotta go after my kid before he gets himself hurt.”

Abigail said something, and Plagg rolled his eyes. “Ok, I’ve had enough of this. Sugar Cube, can you do something to remove this ridiculous language barrier.” Tikki drew out of Marinette’s bag and twirled in a circle, briefly flaring red.

“What was that supposed to do?” Abigail questioned. 

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Oh, I understood that! Can you understand me now?” Abigail nodded. 

“Tikki, how did you do that? I’ve never seen you do anything magical before.”

The little red kwami smiled, but also looked sad. “Marinette, we are beings of magic. There’s lots of things we can do, like casting magic connected to our essence. Plagg’s essence is destruction, which is naturally hard to control. But creation magic is a little more stable. I made a bridge between you two so you can understand each other now!”

“Yeah, but Sugar Cube prefers to not use magic a lot because she doesn’t want to ‘interfere with the lives of mortals too much.’ I don’t have as many inhibitions. However, speaking of inhibitions,” Plagg said, giving Abigail a side-stink eye, “you could have made sure Adrien wasn’t crazy or evil before trying to squish him. Squishing I approve of. Squishing the wrong people, I don’t.”

“Plagg,” Tikki chided.

Plagg stuck out his tongue at her. 

Abigail was tossing the bat between her hands. “I thought he was crazy or evil. He felt so much like the Black I thought he had to be connected to my Uncle.”

“Ok, what are you guys talking about?” Marinette interjected. “I’m the Guardian, but I think I know the least about what’s going on right now.” 

“It’s magic, kid. Magic like the powers of us kwami, and of the miraculous. And, like her-” He pointed. 

Marinette should have been surprised. But with all that had been happening, she wasn’t. “So you are a metahuman?”

“No. This is something I was born with. It runs in the family, and I got unlucky.”

Marinette frowned. “You mentioned an abusive uncle. Does he have magic too?”

Abigail shuddered. “Yeah. He uses them in the worst way, and he wants me to be like him. So I’ve been putting distance between us, and not using my magic so he can’t find you.” 

“You used magic yesterday.”

“I know. I’ll have to leave as soon as I can.”

No one said anything for a few seconds. Then Marinette face palmed. “Ugh! Instead of talking about all the stuff I don’t know, we should have been going after Adrien.” She looked at the ring in her hand. “What a disaster Guardian I am.”

Tikki gave her a fierce hug with her tiny body. “No you’re not!” She insisted. “You’re a great Guardian! You’ve just had to deal with a lot.”   
  


“Yeah, especially when you’re just a kitten,” Plagg chimed in. 

Marinette’s phone pinged. She took out her phone, and paled when she saw the Mark alert. There was no doubt in her mind as to who it was.

“I’m too late.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more part to go before things start looking up again (so I can drag them down more XD). Soon to come are Villain#1 (Hawkmoth is going to have to settle for #2 because this guy is just creepy) and my OC, who is making her debut here for some weird reason. She's going to have her own solo series but for now Marinette and the Team are going to need all the help they can get!
> 
> Edit: NO I'm not actually shipping Lila with Adrien. This is just plot conflict I swear. There is a reason these things are happening and you will find out eventually, I promise. Then your hatred of Lila will only deepen.


End file.
